Redrum
by Carynne Zero
Summary: Alice is a teenager with normal teenager problems, except that she's another one of Wendy's descendants who get whisked off by Peter Pan. Will he be able to make her forget about Matt? Peter x OC, present generation. Disney-verse. Expect love triangles.
1. Love's Betrayal and Neverland

**Edit (11/21/2011): Changed the summary.**

**Edit (12/29/2011): Changed the summary again.  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own Peter Pan. If I did, I would've fed him to Pedobear anyways—*shot* Okay, well, maybe I own Alice, April and Matt.**

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><p><strong>*rises from the ashes*<strong>

**Oh dear God, I'm alive. And I'm back with a new fic. Peter Pan x OC. Sorry to legit shippers out there. If it's any consolation, I do ship Peter x Jane. Sorry, I don't quite like Wendy. ^_^;**

**Okay, this is supposed to be a sequel for Return to Neverland (Disney's sequel, the one with Jane in it).**

**The story so far: Wendy and her brothers went to Neverland but all went back home to London. She grew up and had a family of her own. That's where Jane comes in. But Jane also went back to London and had a family of her own. But due to the war, she had to move away. To the States, in fact. When her daughters, Margaret and Moira, grew up to have their own families, Jane returned to the Darling House. And naturally, Peter looks a tad older here. About a year or two, maybe?**

**The Darling girl here is Margaret's daughter, Alice. Named after the titular character of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but she's not the same character, of course.**

**Oh great, now I wanna write a crossover fic of that ship… .**

**By the way, heads up, this is rated T for teens, and with good reason. Can't tell you about it now though. All I can say is that it has something to do with "REDRUM" and it's not about murder… hopefully.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Redrum<strong>

**Summary:** Alice is a teenager with normal teenager problems, except that she's another one of Wendy's descendants who get whisked off by Peter Pan. Will he be able to make her forget about Matt? Peter x OC, present generation. Disney-verse. Expect love triangles.

**_Chapter 1_**

_Love's Betrayal and Neverland_

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><p>Young Alice listened to her best friend April through the phone. It had been difficult for her to keep in contact with all her friends in the United States since she went to her grandmother's house in London. The old neighborhood had gone through the Second World War and barely survived.<p>

"Really, Alice, we saw him with our own eyes," April said. "Matt was at the mall with some girl."

"What?" she screamed on the phone. "Was she prettier than me?"

"By normal human standards, no, but she was, uhh…" the other girl struggled to find the word that wouldn't offend her best friend, "… more mature?"

"You mean she had breasts?"

"Not just that. And apart from her body, she had blonde hair." She raised her voice slightly to emphasize the fact. "You know how boys prefer blondes!"

Alice ran a finger through her brown hair and felt disgruntled at the color. "Well, I'm not going to dye my hair for something so stupid," she muttered.

She heard her friend April sigh. "I don't know, Alice. There was something fishy about this guy from the start. I mean, he's two years older than us."

"More experience with playing around with innocent girls…" Alice rolled her eyes. "Well, at least I actually know what's going on there. As soon as I get back to America, I'm breaking up with him."

"Okay, well, I have to go, Alice," April said. "I'll call again tomorrow."

"Won't your mom scold you for all these long-distance phone calls?" Alice joked.

"She knows it's for you, so it's okay." She paused. "Well, bye."

"Bye."

And with that, April hung up. Alice set down the phone on the wooden box beside the window and looked around her. She was in an old nursery. It was probably where the kids from past generations slept. She would have protested to her mother that she wasn't a child anymore, but she had been told the only other bedroom was where her mother and grandmother slept.

With a heavy sigh, the brown-haired girl sank beside the box and began to cry. She remembered her dates with Matt every Friday night, but he just used her and was also seeing other girls—older girls.

She grunted. Who cares about older girls? If anything, they'd probably die before she did, and who would want that?

Alice sighed again. That was a childish way of thinking. She knew very well that boys would prefer girls older than her. After all, she was only thirteen, and all this drama was stressing her out too much. She felt that it was coming… **(A/N: This is important. And I'm half-spoiling you guys just by pointing that out.)**

The girl sobbed more but soon fell into a deep sleep. She awoke shivering from the cold outside, but instead of closing the window, she went to get an oversized sweater from her clothes pile (she wasn't quite fond of fixing her things).

It was odd—when she had fallen asleep, the street was bustling with people, even though it was already quite dark. But now everything was silent. Perhaps it was really that late. Still, she remembered in the States the streets were busy even until past midnight.

Amid her thoughts, she heard a faint tingling sound. She couldn't have been mistaken. With the silence of the streets, she could hear every noise around her, and there was definitely a tingling noise.

Alice looked out the window, and she heard the twinkling sound again. Then, no faster than the blink of an eye, a boy appeared before her, dangling upside-down from the roof above the windowpane.

He had red-auburn hair and dark eyes, and he seemed to be wearing clothes made of… leaves? No, they were just green clothes, but they were very odd. Alice noticed that the boy had pointy ears, like an elf. He held onto his feathered green cap with one hand to keep it from falling, the other hand hanging onto the pane.

Behind him was a little fairy… or pixie? Well, whatever she was, she had blonde hair and twinkling blue eyes—and, tiny as she was, she also had a curvy, hourglass figure. The pixie made the tingling sound like a bell.

Alice stared that the two, her mouth agape. And then she did what any normal person would do—she screamed. But upon screaming, the boy quickly flew through the window to cover Alice's mouth.

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><p>Alice was hallucinating—definitely, that was it. There was a flying boy in the nursery, with a pixie. A flying boy.<p>

"Please don't scream," he pleaded, his hand still covering the girl's mouth.

Her vision spun and she continued staring at him in disbelief, heart pounding in fear and shock.

"If I let go, Jane, will you promise not to scream?" he asked, staring back at her blue eyes.

Alice nodded, and she felt relief when the hand was removed.

"Gee, Jane," he started almost hesitantly, "I didn't think I'd surprise you that much." Though the boy spoke to her, he turned around as though trying not to look at her. "The Lost Boys said they missed you terribly, so I thought I'd pick you up so we could play again." He turned around again and grabbed her by the arm. "C'mon, Jane, let's go to Neverland!"

She yanked her arm from the boy's grasp and grunted. It was an unladylike thing to do, she admitted—it was her worst habit. "I'm not Jane!" she said with her voice raised. "Just who do you think you are? Going here through the window and trying to take me to some weirdo place I've never even heard of?"

"You're not Jane?" he asked.

The boy eyed her curiously, and she felt like slapping him. However, that feeling disappeared when she saw a spit-second of sadness in the boy's eyes.

"Then you must be her daughter! I'm Peter Pan. Surely Jane's told you stories about me and the Lost Boys. After all, she was the first Lost Girl."

"I'm not her daughter either, but I _have_ heard stories of you," Alice said as slowly as possible in an attempt to calm herself. She cleared her throat and extended a hand to Peter. "I'm her granddaughter, Alice. Nice to meet you, Peter Pan."

Peter grabbed her extended hand and motioned for the pixie. "Nice to meet you, Alice. Now c'mon, let's go to Neverla—"

"What? But I—"

"We can talk later," he said. "Tink, dust her up."

The little pixie saluted and flew all over Alice, leaving a trail of odd golden dust—pixie dust, perhaps. Somehow, the dust made her think of her happiest thoughts—being in the States with her friends, hanging out at the mall, eating ice cream… and she began to float!

Peter held her by the hand as they flew out the window. He looked at her and grinned. "That's right, Alice. Just keep on thinking those happy thoughts and we'll get to Neverland in no time!"

Alice looked back at him and nodded. She thought more about her friends at home, about April, about Matt… Matt. The mere thought of the boy sent all her happy thoughts away and sent her falling down through the sky. The pain distracted her, even from screaming as she fell to her doom. Tears formed in her eyes and a lone teardrop fell down her face.

Suddenly, she felt two arms beneath her, carrying her. It was Peter.

"Alice," he said in a scolding tone, "you were supposed to think happy thoughts. What happened?"

"I remember… something." She looked at the full moon and down at the rooftops beneath them, and she realized their position. Again, she let out a scream.

The scream caught Peter off-guard and he nearly dropped her in surprise. "Alice, wha—"

"Not like this, not like this!" she screamed again, struggling to get away from the boy. "No! Peter, don't carry me like that!"

In her struggle, Peter accidentally let go of her and once again, she felt herself falling. Almost immediately, the boy dove downwards and grabbed Alice to drag her to the nearest rooftop. Tinkerbell followed soon after.

"What is it, Alice?" the boy asked in exasperation.

"On your back," she grunted. Peter raised his thick eyebrows at her almost demanding statement. "Carry me on your back."

He cocked his head but complied. The boy crouched down and let Alice hold onto his shoulders from behind. And in the blink of an eye, they were once again soaring in the sky.

Tinkerbell occasionally looked over at two children in approval. Unlike the previous girls he brought to Neverland, this one wouldn't let Peter touch her in affectionate ways.

Soon the wondrous sight of Neverland appeared before Alice's eyes. Peter glanced over his shoulder and saw the brunette smiling for the first time since he saw her.

"Hook's long gone, so we can land safely this time," he told her.

They flew to the Lost Boys' new home, a large treehouse camouflaged by leaves. There the Boys waited for their leader, the girl he carried on his back and the pixie. Upon arrival, Alice was bombarded by little boys dressed in animal costumes, each of them speaking out how much they missed "Jane".

Peter whistled and the Boys lined up before him in a disciplined manner. "Boys, Jane has gone and grown up," he announced.

The news surprised the Boys and nearly everyone voiced a question about Jane.

"What?"

"So this is her daughter?"

"Jane went and got herself a daughter?"

"This is Alice," Peter continued, raising his voice to catch the Lost Boys' attention, "Jane's granddaughter."

Alice opened her mouth to speak, but the Lost Boys once again proceeded to hugging her and asking to play games.

"Alice, will you please be our mother?" one of them, a boy dressed in a rabbit costume, asked.

"Please, Alice," the rest of them chorused, "will you please be our mother?"

The girl looked around at the pleading puppy-dog eyes of the younger boys. She couldn't resist them. Then she turned to the eldest, Peter, who didn't seem to be begging along with the others.

"Will you be our mother, Alice?" he finally asked.

"Uhh…" She raised an eyebrow at his nonchalant manner of asking, but quickly brushed it off. He was only a child, after all—not that she was any different. "Sure."

After her agreement, the Lost Boys cheered and smothered her again. She smiled at them, but at the moment, she didn't think she would be able to handle playing with them. The pain lingered in her heart and though she tried her best not to show it, it seemed that Peter, being the eldest boy, had caught on.

"Alice, is something wrong?" he asked.

She looked at him, taken aback that he had noticed. "I'm just… tired," she lied. "Is there a room here for me?"

The Boys backed away from her as though silently ordered by their leader, and Peter led her to a large room in the treehouse.

"This room is for our mother," he said, "so it's yours now." He pointed a thumb back at the room across. "That's my room. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to call me."

"Thanks." She smiled at him and cleared her throat. "Uhh… sorry, could I have some time alone in here? I'm really exhausted and—err, well—"

Peter interrupted her with a grin. "I'll come to get you later, okay? The Boys really missed having a mother."

And with those final words, he vanished out of the room. Alice's eyes explored the room as she walked toward the makeshift bed in the corner. It almost reminded her of the nursery in London—Peter and the Boys had probably fashioned it to look like the nursery to make Jane feel at home.

She sat on the bed and let the pain consume her. In a matter of minutes, she was on the bed, hugging her knees and crying into the soft sweater's sleeves.

"It really isn't fair, Matt," she muttered in a shaking, muffled voice. "Was something wrong with me? I'm not that different from other girls…"

From the hallway, Peter heard the muffled sobs of the brunette inside the room. He was headed to his room but decided to check on her.

"Alice?" he murmured, looking almost blindly through the darkness.

"Why did you have to leave me?" she sobbed into her knees.

"Alice, what's wrong?" he asked, approaching the figure on the bed.

The girl's eyes widened and she backed away from the shadowy blob that happened to be Peter Pan. "It's nothing," she quickly said. "I'm fine."

"But you were—"

"Peter, I'm fine." She huddled against the wall and once again wrapped her arms around her knees.

The boy blinked at her but decided not to pry any further. "The Boys have all gone to sleep. But they want to play with you first thing tomorrow, okay?" He didn't wait for the girl to answer as he was already back at the doorstep. "Goodnight, Alice."

"Goodnight, Peter," she murmured. "I'm sorry." When he disappeared into the other room, she continued, "Just tonight, please, let me cry."

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><p><strong>I can't tell if I'm losing my touch or if I'm actually improving. I wouldn't know. I haven't written one of these babies since high school.<strong>

**Anyway, I have no idea how many chapters this will be, but rest assured that I am currently working on Chapter 2. Certain things will be revealed. Have I mentioned this is rated T because of certain themes and symbols that bother teenagers more than they do children? I don't think I have. Well, now I have. ._.**

**Please R&R, loves!**

**~ froggy**


	2. Redrum

**Edit (11/21/2011): Changed the summary.**

**Edit (12/29/2011): Changed the summary again.  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: Peter Pan and the other characters (save for Alice) don't belong to me. Heaven and Earth doesn't belong to me either.**

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><p><strong>The story so far: While Alice was in the Darling house, she learned that her boyfriend Matt is cheating on her with older, "curvier" girls. While crying in the old nursery, she was visited by Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, and he takes her to Neverland.<strong>

**Okay, so I remembered that in the UK, sweaters are called jerseys, pullovers or jumpers (Source: Wikipedia). Well, I use American English here because it's told mostly in Alice's perspective (though in the third-person POV).**

**Enjoy! ^_^**

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><p><strong>Redrum<strong>

**Summary: ** Alice is a teenager with normal teenager problems, except that she's another one of Wendy's descendants who get whisked off by Peter Pan. Will he be able to make her forget about Matt? Peter x OC, present generation. Disney-verse. Expect love triangles.

_**Chapter 2**_

_Redrum_

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><p>Alice woke up in the middle of the night with the familiar wet feeling she felt every month. She breathed heavily and stood up in a panic. The girl twirled in the darkness, trying to get a quick glance of her bottom and sighed in relief when she saw no stain.<p>

The entire treehouse was quiet, but this was urgent, so she snuck out of her room and headed to the room where she first met the Lost Boys. Oddly enough, the candles in the room were lit and she saw two figures in the darkness. One seemed to stand guard while the other, a large figure, dug through the makeshift pantry for food.

The skinny figure standing guard noticed the girl and quickly alerted the other. "Cubby, Alice is awake!" He walked toward the candle, revealing himself to be the Lost Boy wearing a fox suit.

Cubby, the larger Lost Boy who wore a bear cub suit, stood up and looked at Alice. With a mouth full of food, he grinned at her. "Hiya, Alice!"

The fox-clad Lost Boy approached her as well. "I'm Slightly and this is Cubby. Are you here to play with us?" he asked eagerly.

"Sorry, no," she murmured unsurely. "Um… do you guys have a little girls' room here?"

"Nope," Cubby replied, "we just go anywhere here!"

The girl grimaced at him but quickly tried to hide her disgust. Thankfully, Slightly intervened.

"We don't have a room for that here, but we can take you outside to do your, uhh… business," he offered.

Alice hesitated. "Is Tinkerbell awake? It's kind of… urgent."

Cubby looked at Slightly and asked, "Tink's usually awake at this time, right?"

"Yeah, let's go to her room!" the other Boy replied.

The two Lost Boys led Alice through another hallway and into a room with the hollowed trunk of a tree. A leaf covered the opening, but Alice could see the glowing, sparkling fairy inside. Cubby lifted the leaf and they saw the pixie in one corner, looking at herself in a small, fairy-sized mirror.

"Tinkerbell?" Alice called, "could I talk to you in private?"

Hearing the last phrase, Cubby and Slightly exited the room and presumably went back to the pantry. Tinkerbell looked at Alice questioningly and tingled, mutely asking her what was wrong.

"Well, I… you're a girl, too," she started. "Do you ever have… I mean, in a certain time of the month, do you…?" She trailed off, too embarrassed to continue her question.

Thankfully, Tink knew what the young girl was talking about and nodded with a smile. Alice sighed in relief and looked at the pixie pleadingly.

"Clearly, I can't ask the boys for help on this," she said. "I don't know what to do…"

Tinkerbell reached under her makeshift bed and took out a tiny, cotton-like leaf. She showed it to Alice, as though telling her, "This is what I use." Then she flew out of the tree trunk and to a nearby window. A tree stood just outside the window and had leaves just like the one Tink had, except they were larger—the perfect size for Alice. The pixie seemed to only use leaf buds as they were sized for her.

Alice grinned and plucked a leaf from the tree. "Thank you so much, Tinkerbell!" She headed toward the door. "Goodnight."

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><p>The brown-haired girl awoke once again, because of the light from outside and the light of a certain pixie hovering over her face. Tink tugged at Alice's sweater and then at her hair, successfully making the human girl get up. The disgruntled Alice looked at the fairy who kept pointing at the red stain on the sheets in a panic, and she also began to panic.<p>

"Oh God, a stain!" she shrieked. "We can't let the boys see that!" She quickly grabbed a pillow and covered the dried stain. "That means I also have a stain…"

Alice turned to Tink who tingled at her.

"Yeah, I should wash these…" she sighed. "The Lost Boys were so looking forward to playing…"

Tinkerbell tingled again, suggesting they sneak out to wash off the stains. Alice agreed and followed Tink. The pixie led her to a slow flowing river.

The young girl was a bit embarrassed with her current situation, but she was thankful for Tinkerbell. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that the fairy was seated on a boulder along the riverbank and was staring off into space. Alice proceeded to wash the sheets, keeping in mind to wash her shorts and underwear last.

However, back in the treehouse, the Lost Boys had already noticed the disappearance of both Tinkerbell and Alice. Nibs, the Lost Boy in a rabbit suit, quickly alerted their leader.

"Alice and Tink?" Slightly repeated, raising his eyebrows curiously at Peter. "Well, Alice woke up last night."

"Yeah, she asked to go to the little girls' room," Cubby added.

"But we said we didn't have one," Slightly continued, "so she asked to see Tinkerbell instead."

"But why?" Peter asked.

"We don't know," the skinny one replied. "She asked to be alone with Tink—"

"So we went back to, uhh… sleep," the large one finished, earning a glare from Slightly. "But we haven't seen them since."

Peter looked off to the side and remained silent, deep in thought. "I'll be right back," he muttered before flying off. The Lost Boys stared at their leader but merely shrugged it off and continued playing.

The red-haired boy flew over the forest, his eyes scanning the trees and clearings for any sign of the girls. Then he saw a familiar golden glow by the river and dove down to see Alice and Tinkerbell at the riverbank. Upon noticing Peter's arrival, Alice quickly jumped into the river for she was already in the middle of washing her underwear.

He looked at her strangely. "Alice, what are you doing?"

Alice nearly choked on her breath trying to think of an answer. "I'm just washing my clothes, and the—sheets—because, uhh… well—" She cleared her throat. "Peter, could you… I mean, is it okay if I—" She sighed in defeat and turned to the befuddled, floating boy while covering herself with her clothes. "Could I borrow, uhh… pants? Or anything, really. At least, until my shorts dry."

Peter blinked in confusion and scratched the nape of his neck. "Sure. I'll go get… are you fine with—" He looked down at his own pants… err, tights. "—tights?"

His question was met with a panicked nod, and he was off again to the treehouse. In a matter of minutes, he was back with a pair of green tights. Alice quickly grabbed the tights and motioned for Tinkerbell, who promptly dragged Peter away.

The young girl hid in the trees and fixed the cottony leaf into the tights before wearing them. Thanks to her large sweater, the tights functioned like regular leggings—not that she liked leggings. They were the most uncomfortable things she'd ever worn back home.

She ran back to the riverbank where Peter and Tink had been waiting, and apparently, conversing. Alice mouthed a thank-you to the pixie and proceeded to gathering the things she had washed.

"Alice," Peter began, nearly startling the girl in question, "why were you washing those anyway?"

"For hygienic purposes," she lied. "We'll have to dry these under the sun… oh God," she groaned before turning to Tink. "Tinkerbell, can I—"

The pixie nodded and Alice sighed in relief. In the midst of their silent girl conversation, Peter was confused. He had no idea what was happening, but Alice figured that he didn't need to find out.

"So," she huffed with a sheepish grin, "what's for breakfast?"

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><p>The three returned to the treehouse without much conversation. Alice was too flustered and embarrassed with what had happened (and with the fact that she was wearing a pair of Peter's tights), Peter was too confused and preoccupied with trying to figure out what had happened, and Tinkerbell wasn't one for talking much. The Lost Boys were gathered at the dining table, presumably waiting for the others to return. The table before them wasn't set—it was as though they were simply waiting for food to magically appear on the table.<p>

"Hey, they're back!" Slightly exclaimed upon seeing the three.

"Where've ya been, Alice?" the raccoon-suited twins asked in unison.

"Alice, won't you cook something for us?" Cubby asked, rubbing his large tummy. "I'm starving."

"Yeah, mother, we're starving!" the other Lost Boys chorused, before looking at her with puppy-dog eyes.

The young girl was overwhelmed at all the adorably large, pleading eyes gazing at her—she couldn't say no. No sooner than a second, she was preparing a large meal for eight-and-a-half people (the half being Tinkerbell). With all that's left in the pantry, she could only provide them with Sunnyside up eggs and bacon. However, breakfast didn't last too long for the Boys were all too excited to play with Alice. They devoured their meal in a matter of minutes.

Peter was the last to finish before Alice, and he told her to hurry up so they could play. She could barely remember the last time she hurried a meal to play with her friends. Naturally, she tried her best to eat faster, but she still had to do the dishes. While Alice was heading to the kitchen with all the dirty dishes, Peter decided to check up on her again.

"What's taking you so long, Alice?" he asked, poking his head through the doorway first.

"I have to wash all these dishes first, Peter," she said. "Chores, you know."

"Chores?" he repeated the unfamiliar word. "You can wash those later. First, we've gotta play!" He motioned to grab her by the arm. "You've been doing far too much washing this morning, Alice."

She moved abruptly but carefully so as not to drop the dishes. "But it'll be more difficult to wash them later."

Alice continued walking nonchalantly. The pile of dishes she carried was so tall she could barely see what was in front of her. She had to be extra careful. Suddenly, she bumped into something—or someone. Peter floated in front of her in a vague attempt to block the sink.

"Step aside, Peter," she said, walking around him to reach the sink. "I might break these if I bump into you again."

"And we wouldn't want that, would we?" he teased with a mischievous grin. "So just come over and play with us so you won't have to worry about breaking any dishes."

"Honestly, Peter," she sighed as she set the dishes down, "I'm not going to budge, y'know. And if you're so hung up on playing with me, why don't you just help me with the dishes?"

The boy floated beside her and thought for a while. Then he lit up and grinned at her.

"That's a great idea, Alice!" he exclaimed, startling her so she nearly dropped a cup. "Me and the Lost Boys can help you wash the dishes! It can be just like a game!"

Peter whistled and the Lost Boys immediately lined up in the kitchen, all of them saluting at their leader. He paced around them in a soldier-like manner and spoke with the manliest voice he could muster.

"Alright, men, we have a mission here," he said. "We are to wash each and every one of those dishes there—" He pointed to the sink on which Alice had already begun washing some of the dishes. "—before we can play with our mother. Understood?"

He was answered with salutes and words of affirmation from the younger boys, and each began rushing to the sink to grab a dish. Their movements were so abrupt that Alice nearly, once again, dropped whatever dish she was holding.

"Hold on—BOYS!" she shrieked, successfully catching the Lost Boys' attention. "You have to be careful when handling the dishes. Otherwise you might drop them."

She looked at them and decided to play along with Peter's little mission. The girl cleared her throat and looked at the Boys who all held one dish each.

"Alright, this is part of your mission, men," she said. "It's imperative that you handle each dish with utmost care so as not to drop it. Is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Alice then turned to Peter, who was merely floating on one side of the kitchen and watching the Boys at the sink. She raised an eyebrow at him and approached the boy.

"Don't think you're not part of this, Peter," she said. "Get over there and help the Boys."

"I don't have to help them," he stated pompously, lying down in midair. "I'm the father. I don't have to help with the chores."

She stared at him incredulously. "Since when were _you_ the father?"

"Since forever."

The girl grunted, nearing exasperation. "Well, that's all the more reason you should help them. You're more capable of washing dishes than all of them combined."

"You flatter me, my lady," he laughed airily.

"It isn't flattery if it's true," she retorted. "Now get washing."

Peter finally caved in and stood on his two feet, motioning to walk to the sink. However, no sooner than he got there did the Lost Boys finish with their chore. They quickly went to their mother and bombarded her once again with hugs, this time accompanied with stories of how they washed their dishes. Alice, on the other hand, could only look at Peter who smirked at her arrogantly.

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><p>"Mother, will you please play with us?" the twins asked, hugging her by the waist.<p>

"Let's play tag!" Slightly declared.

"No, we're gonna play hide-and-seek!" Nibs corrected.

"I'm no good at either of those!" Cubby whined.

Alice groaned inwardly. It wouldn't be long before those arguments broke into fights and each of the Boys would be pulling and tugging at each other. However, an idea broke into her mind and she smiled at the Boys.

"How about we play something I used to play as a child?" she suggested.

"But aren't you still a child, mother?" Nibs asked.

She blinked, nearly taken aback by the child's words, but she quickly composed herself and grinned at him. "Well, I suppose I am. Now, this game is called Heaven and Earth."

The brunette sat herself down on a log as the Boys gathered around her. Peter was still somewhat separated from the group, watching over the Boys as usual. But this time, he seemed to be genuinely interested in that Alice was explaining.

"It's kind of like tag in that one person is supposed to chase everyone else," she began, "but with a twist."

Those four words seemed to be enough to get everybody silent and attentive.

She continued, "The players are allowed to run on level ground—that's Earth—and they can also climb up to higher places like, say, this log or up a tree—that's Heaven. The 'it' chases after everyone, but he can't go to Heaven, so he can only chase after the ones on Earth."

Alice looked up as if trying to recall any rules she might have forgotten.

"By the way, there's something called fishing. That means the 'it' tries to tag someone in Heaven by reaching for them while he's on Earth. He can't do that because fishing isn't allowed, okay?"

Everyone nodded, including Peter, and they all stood up.

"Alright, well, since Peter is already away from us, and he's the only person here who can fly anyway, he'll be 'it'." Alice cupped her hands over her mouth and shouted, "You're 'it', Peter!"

It took a second for Peter to register what she had said, and Alice and the Lost Boys had all scattered in the clearing. Then he began chasing them. He started with Alice who circled the clearing to get to the log, and then chased Tootles who was quick to climb a tree. Then he ran after Slightly who took refuge with Alice on the log, and after the twins who, with each other's help, were able to climb a tree before Peter could even get close. On the last huff of his Mr.-Nice-Guy patience, he chased after Nibs who, being the rabbit among the Lost Boys, naturally outran him.

Now, Peter rarely ever lost a game—he was the king of games in Neverland, and no outsider could possibly outsmart him. He was becoming quite the sore loser. However, he managed to tame his urge to win. After all, he was having too much fun to be worried about losing.

He chased Cubby who was never an expert on tag and finally caught him, just when the Lost Boy was clambering a tree. Cubby wasn't quite _on_ the tree yet, so it was still counted as being on Earth. The Lost Boy's role as the 'it' lasted for a spell, as he struggled to chase all of the other players.

"No fair!" Cubby complained. "You guys _know_ I'm slower than all of you!"

Alice giggled, sauntering just a few feet away from the Lost Boy. She was nearing the center of the clearing where she would be completely vulnerable.

"You couldn't possibly be any slower than me, Cubby," she said. "Why, I'm the slowest of the slow. A crawling baby would be able to catch me." She paused. "Okay, that's overdoing it…" she muttered to herself.

Cubby took that opportunity and tagged her but not before having to chase her all around the clearing. By the time he caught hold of her he was exhausted and panting. Alice, however, was adept in the game, having been the one to introduce it to them, and it did not take long before she tagged Nibs who was even faster at tagging the other Lost Boys.

The game lasted for a good hour until the Boys were all tired and simply lying on the grass, looking up at the clouds. Alice took shelter from the trees, complaining to Peter about getting too much sun, and Peter leaned against a tree and hardly listened to her.

"That was a fun game, Alice," he said as soon as she had quieted down.

Alice was still panting and wiping her forehead with her sweater sleeve. Then she looked at the sweater and nearly bumped her head on a tree trunk. Peter watched her in amazement at how she seemed to have a world of her own.

"Honestly, Alice…" she muttered to herself as she removed the sweater. "What genius runs around under the sun while wearing a _sweater_?" she asked herself in exasperation before looking at Peter. "What?"

He laughed. "You sure talk to yourself a lot."

"Ah, bad habit," she sighed.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so just to clear things up, I didn't make up the game Alice taught them. It's a traditional game from the Philippines (where I'm from) and here it's called <strong>_**Langit-Lupa**_**. **_**Langit**_** means sky or heaven, and **_**lupa**_** means earth.**

**Anyway, I don't like how my chapters are so short, but I'm afraid we'll have to make do with that. I get annoyed with how the titles can't cover the entire chapter. But then again, I don't like how the chapter summaries go. They make the chapters seem so simple… as though nothing significant happened. Well, I just needed to let out out, so yeah. ^_^;**

**Here, I'll explain the significance of Redrum in this chapter. It was actually pretty random. While thinking of this entire story, I thought I'd make Alice have her period. It (the side effects, at least) makes everything more exciting. XD**

**Redrum is the word murder backwards, but whenever I hear/see it, I just notice the first part: RED. Red makes me think of blood and… like I said, Alice gets her period.**

**As for its significance in the rest of the story… well, I'll let you figure that out.**

**I did say this is for teenagers, right?**

**R&R, my lovelies!**

**~ froggy**


	3. Of Songs and Silhouettes

**Edit (11/21/2011): Changed the summary.**

**Edit (12/29/2011): Changed the summary again.  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: Peter Pan and the Lost Boys don't belong to me. The iPod doesn't belong to me either. Speaking of which, rest in peace, Steve Jobs. And guess what else I don't own—the song **_**Out of My League**_** by Stephen Speaks.**

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><p><strong>No weird rant this time. Sorry. ^ _ ^;<strong>

**The story so far: During her first night in Neverland, Alice got her period. Thankfully, Tinkerbell helped her, but the morning after left her with stains on both her sheets and her clothes. After breakfast, she taught a new game to Peter and the Lost Boys.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Redrum<strong>

**Summary:** Alice is a teenager with normal teenager problems, except that she's another one of Wendy's descendants who get whisked off by Peter Pan. Will he be able to make her forget about Matt? Peter x OC, present generation. Disney-verse. Expect love triangles.

_**Chapter 3**_

_Of Songs and Silhouettes_

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><p>Alice fixed herself up, straightening the wrinkles on her tank top, and lay down on the grass. "Okay, I have to admit, these tights are the weirdest things I've ever worn."<p>

Even Peter could see how odd it looked on her now that she wasn't wearing her sweater. He looked back at the treehouse and thought of Alice's clothes.

"We could go back and check to see if your clothes are dry yet," he offered.

"In a minute," she murmured, closing her eyes.

Peter laughed again. "Don't fall asleep."

"I won't."

In no less than—as Alice said—a minute, she was up and heading back to the treehouse with Peter trailing just behind her. Slightly saw them and asked if they were headed back. He didn't need an answer though, and soon he and the other Lost Boys were also on their way to the treehouse.

Peter gathered the Lost Boys in the living room while Alice changed into her underwear and shorts after plucking another leaf from Tinkerbell's tree. The pixie was fast asleep in her hollow, so Alice had to sneak in to get the leaf.

When she entered the living room, she saw that each Lost Boy was preoccupied with his own little game. The twins were playing jackstones, Cubby was having a snack, Slightly was playing Peter's flute, and Tootles and Nibs were chasing each other around the room. Peter, on the other hand, was resting on a makeshift couch.

"You like music?" Alice asked upon seeing Peter's flute.

"This is Peter's," the fox suit-clad Lost Boy explained, handing it over to Alice. "But I made it."

"It's nice," she said with a sweet smile. She missed her iPod back home and she wished she had brought it with her. Of course, Peter rushed her to go to Neverland, so she wouldn't have remembered it anyway.

Peter (speak… or rather, think of the devil) floated beside her in a sitting position and grabbed the bamboo flute from her. "You wanna hear me play it?" he asked with an enthusiastic grin. He didn't wait for Alice to answer for he had already begun playing a catchy tune on it.

Alice giggled in amusement. "Say, would you boys happen to know what a guitar is?" she asked.

Slightly lit up. "I have one!" He disappeared into one of the hallways and soon came back with a small acoustic guitar in one hand. "I saw a man playing it once when Peter took me to… no, it wasn't London…" He trailed off.

"It was in Essex," Peter corrected.

"Yeah, in Essex!" the younger boy exclaimed. "When he saw me, he gave it to me. But I don't know how to play it."

Alice smiled at him, "I know how to play it. Come, I'll teach you."

Since Peter's original seat on the couch was now empty, she took his place and moved to the side to let Slightly squeeze in beside her. Before anything, she began tuning the guitar, while giving the Lost Boy a short lesson on how to tune a guitar. Then she let him hold the guitar and grabbed his hand and positioned the boy's fingers on the fretboard.

As she taught him the different chords, the other Lost Boys noticed them and began to gather around the couch. Peter floated off to the side and assumed a lying position, rolling his eyes at the two children on the couch. Alice only noticed the other Boys when Tootles nudged her leg.

"Play something for us, Alice!" Slightly beamed. His plead was followed by the other Boys' own pleads for Alice to play them a song.

She was slightly flustered and embarrassed with their pleads. "Well, I'm not very good at…"

Naturally, she trailed away when she saw their large eyes and pouty lips. She let out a defeated sigh and held the guitar. Slightly moved a bit so he was seated on the couch's armrest and held Tootles on his lap.

"I don't know what sorts of songs you listen to, but I'll sing you a few of my favorites from the States. This is—" She cleared her throat. "—a song that was sung to me by… an old friend." Subconsciously, she smiled as she said that.

Alice began plucking the guitar strings and soon her singing voice followed. Her voice was soft, but the room was so quiet that everyone could hear her.

"_It's her hair and her eyes today,  
>that just simply take me away…"<em>

Upon hearing the first few lines, Peter looked up from his sulking position and also began listening to the song. He remembered Wendy singing a lullaby to them, but this was different.

"_And the feeling that I'm falling further in love  
>makes me shiver but in a good way."<em>

The melody carried the Boys into an illusion. There was nothing to see in particular, but each of them felt so peaceful as they listened to Alice's song.

"_All the times I have sat and stared  
>as she thoughtfully thumbs through her hair."<em>

The girl's voice wasn't nearly as angelic as Wendy's voice was all those years ago when she sang them a lullaby, but it was soothing to listen to Alice.

"_And she purses her lips, bats her eyes and she plays,  
>with me sitting there slack-jawed and nothing to say…"<em>

The Boys definitely liked listening to Alice sing. Slightly seemed to be the most eager one for he kept his eyes on Alice's hand to look at the chords as she played.

"'_Cause I love her with all that I am,  
>and my voice shakes along with my hands,<br>'cause she's all that I see and she's all that I need  
>and I'm out of my league once again."<em>

The chorus went by smoothly, though Alice's voice began to shake toward the last line. She cleared her throat and stopped the guitar's strings, immediately catching everyone's attention. However, the girl began rubbing her eyes with her fist, as though trying to avoid eye contact.

"What's wrong, Alice?" Slightly asked, looking up at her.

"It's nothing…" Her voice faltered when she answered, but she tried to compose herself with a nonchalant sigh. "Sorry, Slightly, would you mind if I teach you later instead?" She turned to the other boys who all had their pleading faces again. "I'll sing for you again later, okay? For now, I have to rest…"

Alice stood and began to make her leave. The Boys, Slightly in particular, followed her with their eyes until she turned at the hallway. When the brunette disappeared, the fox suit-clad Lost Boy took his guitar and attempted to recall the chords Alice had shown him.

Peter crept away from the room and into the hallway to follow Alice. He guessed that she had gone to her room, and naturally, he was right. He was half-expecting her to be sobbing at her bed, half-expecting her to be preparing to sleep. However, Alice was just sitting on her bed all huddled up. She had put on her sweater again and had her knees against her chest.

"You have a nice voice, Alice," he started as he approached her cautiously, as though approaching a shy animal. "It's perfect for a mother."

But the girl didn't thank him. Instead, she turned to look out the window, to look at the clouds in the bright blue sky. "Do you know that song, Peter? The song I just sang?"

He sat on the edge of the bed. "No, I've never heard it before."

Alice leaned her head on the wall below the window and her fingers circled on the bed sheet. "A special person sang it to me once," she murmured in a dreamlike state. "He said the girl in the song was me."

Peter turned to face her in the corner. He caught a glimpse of her eyes—they were twinkling from the tears that had begun to form. She looked sad. "Alice?" he called. "What's wrong?"

"I miss him dearly," she answered mysteriously with a look of longing in her blue eyes.

The boy was conflicted—he'd never liked it when a friend asked to go home, even though he knew from the start that they would, but he didn't like seeing a friend like that. It was simply no fun.

In the end, he gave in to concern. "Do you want to go home?" he asked, instantly regretting it the moment he said it.

She shook her head and smiled sadly at him. "I can still stay for a while." Then she cleared her throat. "Anyway, I think I need a bit of fresh air. I'll just go out for a while."

"I'll come with you," he offered. "You look like you could use the company."

Peter stood tall in front of the brown-haired girl and bowed courteously. "Fair maiden, would you do me the honor of accompanying you to the balcony?"

Alice decided to play along and giggled at him. "Why, Sir Peter, the honor would be mine." She hadn't quite played pretend in a while. As much as she missed it, she would have been embarrassed if her friends at home found out that she still played these games.

The green-clad Peter Pan took her by the hand and led her outside to the porch. Alice leaned on the wooden railing and gazed out at the sunset. She wanted nothing more than to forget about Matt and his carnal desire for a voluptuous teenage girl.

"I don't know what I see in him," she muttered under her breath.

"See in who?" Peter asked from behind her, nearly making her jump in surprise.

A sigh escaped her, and she turned abruptly and looked Peter in his dark eyes. "It isn't something I'd like to talk about right now, Peter. I went out for air, not for a heart-to-heart with you."

The boy decided to change the subject. He noticed that she was rather on edge, and he knew better than to fuel a girl's rage. After all, he'd learned from Tinkerbell, Tiger Lily and the mermaids at the lagoon, and even from Wendy and Jane. Alice, in fact, seemed even more irritable than all the other girls he knew. And she seemed a bit crazier, too…

"Ah, I should've brought my sweater out…" he heard her say to herself.

"Cold?" he asked.

Her silhouette nodded. "A bit."

The sun was sinking faster than it did on Earth, so naturally the air was growing cooler by the minute. She hugged herself for warmth but suddenly felt warmth on her back.

Alice turned around and was met with Peter's neck. From her grandmother Jane's stories of the boy who never grew up, she had expected him to be no taller than herself, but this boy was a head taller than her. The afternoon sunlight illuminated his Adam's apple and collarbones. Perhaps he had gone through puberty from the days he spent on Earth?

He seemed to be standing behind her—or rather, in front of her now—to provide her with some body warmth. When she looked up to see his face, she found that he was just looking at her with his big brown eyes.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Peter scratched the back of his neck and chuckled mischievously. "Well, you said you were cold."

Alice didn't say anything in turn. She didn't quite mind the physical contact, having gotten used to her guy friends at home as well as the Lost Boys who always hugged her. To her, Peter was just another guy friend and maybe even another Lost Boy, though he was certainly different from her other guy friends.

Instead, her mind brought her back to thinking about her problem with Matt. Even though she wanted to just forget about him, she knew in her heart that she couldn't do that. At least, not in one day. She needed to check on him.

"I might have to go home tonight, Peter," she blurted out.

The boy stepped away from her and gaped at her in shock. In all honesty, though, Alice didn't know where such a thought came from either.

"What?" he exclaimed. "But you just told me you could stay for a while!"

"Uhh… well—" Now it was Alice's turn to scratch the nape of her neck. "I have to attend to some personal matters, and my mom is probably worried sick about me. And really, I just need to fix something…" She tried to level herself with him so she could look him in the eye. "Look, if you want, you can watch over me while I'm there. I won't take too long."

Peter was reluctant at first, but he did agree to take her back. He turned to call for Tinkerbell, but Alice demanded that he take her back to London immediately. Again, he couldn't seem to do anything but comply with the young girl.

"Slightly!" the red-haired boy called through the window. No sooner than a second did the fox-clad Lost Boy appear and salute before him. "Alice is going to London for a bit, and you're in charge until we get back."

"Will I call Tink, Sir?" the younger boy asked.

"No need," Alice replied just as Peter opened his mouth to answer. "I just really wanna get home as soon as possible. Very important, uhh… matters."

Without another word, Peter carried the girl again on his back and flew her out of Neverland and back to London. They entered through the old nursery window, which had been open since Alice left.

When they arrived, they were greeted by an old lady in a nightgown. She quickly recognized the auburn-haired child who carried her granddaughter and approached the pair.

"Peter!" the old lady called as her granddaughter hugged her in greeting.

The boy looked strangely at the woman, as though trying to remember who she was. She had the same old tomboyish haircut, though her bright blue eyes hid behind a pair of eyeglasses. Her smile was unmistakable—she was…

"Jane?" he murmured in disbelief.

"Yes, it's me, Peter," she said. "It's been a while since you came to visit."

"I visited a few times, but the house was empty," he explained. "And there were these weird… exploding things falling from the sky."

"The last time you visited was during the war?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "That was over sixty years ago, Peter!"

The young girl went over to the wooden box beside the window and grabbed the phone. She turned to Jane and asked her something Peter couldn't quite understand. He saw the old lady nod to her granddaughter, and Alice pressed some buttons on the odd device she held.

"I'm afraid I can't stay here in this room with the two of you, Peter," Jane said. "I must go and tell Alice's mother that she is safe. But from the looks of it, she's still going to return to Neverland, isn't she?"

Peter nodded and his eyes followed his old friend as she left the nursery. Then he turned to Alice who kept the small device near her ear. He didn't understand what she was doing, but that must have been what she went back to do.

"April?" she murmured into the device. She seemed to be having a one-sided conversation with the device as she paused after nearly every sentence, as though waiting for a response.

"Sorry, did I wake you up? Oh, okay…"

She paced around the room as she talked to the device. Peter, on the other hand, remained where he stood and watched the young girl on the phone.

"Do you have any news on him?"

"No, I want to forget about him."

"Of course I do, April."

Amidst her pacing, she nearly bumped into Peter. "—Oh dear God!" She glared at the tall boy who could only look at her in bewilderment and grin sheepishly. "Peter, will you just—ugh… no, April, there's this guy—God, no, April! Eww, no, not Peter—what, no! He's… APRIL!"

Alice groaned in exasperation. "Sorry, I have to go." She finally removed the phone from her ear and set it back down on the wooden box. Before turning to Peter, she rummaged through her clothes pile, retrieved a handful of curious looking packets and jammed as many as she could into a small bag.

"Alright, we can go back now. But I'm having a wonderful headache right now, Peter," she grunted. "Could you, uhh…"

"No problem, princess," he answered with a charming smile as he picked her up and carried her as a husband would his wife.

And again, they were in the sky. Alice felt the need to shift awkwardly in Peter's arms, but she couldn't for fear of falling again. The flight back to Neverland was quite short. By then, the sun had completely gone down and had been replaced by the moon.

When they arrived at the treehouse, the Lost Boys were still playing. The youngest ones seemed to be growing tired though, so as their mother, Alice urged them to go to bed. Naturally, they wouldn't budge. In fact, the only Boy she managed to convince was Tootles, but only because he was genuinely and honestly sleepy. She sat on the floor and ran her hand through the little boy's hair as he slept on her lap.

Peter was perched on the couch—his makeshift throne—and played his bamboo flute. Nibs was sitting on the armrest, tinkering with Slightly's guitar. Cubby was playing with the twins and always seemed to confuse them with one another. Slightly entered the room from the porch and silently approached Alice.

"Slightly, is something the matter?" she asked when he sat down beside her.

"Nothing much," he replied with a yawn. "I'm just awfully sleepy."

"Aww, he just wants to sleep on your lap," Peter muttered in a sulky tone.

"And is the great Peter Pan jealous of that?" she teased with a giggle.

"'Course not!" he scoffed.

From beside him, Nibs stood up and approached Alice. "Sing us a lullaby, mother!" he said, handing her Slightly's guitar.

"I can't play the guitar like this, Nibs," she answered, gesturing at the two children sleeping on her lap.

"You don't need to play that thing to sing a lullaby," Peter said, floating to where Alice sat. "Wendy didn't have a guitar when she sang for us. Just sing." He settled just behind Alice and lay down on the floor, covering his eyes with his green cap.

"But I don't really know any lullabies…" the girl murmured.

"Just sing whatever you wanna sing," he yawned.

Alice paused to think of any lullabies she might know, but her thoughts were interrupted by the familiar tingling sound of a certain fairy she knew. "Hey, Tink," she said. "Haven't seen you all day."

The green-clad pixie flailed her arms and rang like a service bell, as though explaining or telling a story to the girl.

"Fireflies, huh?" the young girl repeated. "Well, have fun, then."

As Tinkerbell flew out the window, Alice lay down on the floor and yawned sleepily. She used Peter's tummy as a pillow, and waking up, the boy gently ran a hand through her soft brown hair. She was already half-asleep when she heard Peter's stomach grumbling, and the girl couldn't help but laugh.

"I think you need a midnight snack, Peter," she giggled. "Your stomach's complaining."

Before Peter could respond, the other Lost Boys suddenly surrounded the small group and leaned on them, using the two eldest children as pillows.

"Goodnight, Alice," one of the twins said, hugging Peter's left calf while using his thigh as a pillow.

"Goodnight, Peter," the other twin said, in the same predicament as his brother with Peter's right leg.

"G'night, Mother," Cubby yawned, leaning his head on Peter's arm. "G'night, Peter."

Alice glanced at Slightly and Tootles who were both fast asleep on her lap. "It looks like Slightly and Tootles went ahead," she giggled. "Goodnight, boys." She glanced at Peter above her. "Goodnight, Peter."

The boy brushed her hair with his hand in response. "Goodnight, Alice."

* * *

><p><strong>First of all, I apologize for using a song in this chapter, but Alice is supposed to be very musically inclined, so it's rather inevitable. But this isn't a songfic. The song may or may not play a part in the plot, but the entire fic doesn't revolve around songs. They're just part of Alice's personality (and Slightly's as well). Oh, and watch out for other songs, too. I might add more to the Redrum playlist~<strong>

**Okay, apparently, this is the first time it took more than a day for a chapter. Well, it's my first time writing a longfic (and actually uploading it anywhere), so please excuse the short chapters. They're 6-8 pages each on MS Word (in Cambria size 12), but my chapters are longer in original stories. I guess I'm just afraid my readers would get bored if the chapters are too long. But judging from the longfics I read before, long chapters are wonderful, wonderful things.**

**What is it with me and rambling every time I finish a chapter? Haha, yeah.**

**R&R, loves.**

**~ froggy**


	4. Hook

**Edit (11/21/2011): Changed the summary.**

**Edit (12/29/2011): Changed the summary again.  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: Peter Pan and the rest of these characters don't belong to me. Except Alice. She's mine.**

**Warning: This chapter is rated T for language. Seriously, the profanity here is scandalous. (Because you're not supposed to mess with a girl while she's on her period.)**

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><p><strong>I was away from home when I started writing this, and I was also still working on Chapter 3. I just wanted to continue writing the fic, so I tried writing on my phone. I couldn't remember where I stopped with Chapter 3, so I just started with a new chapter. That way, I can edit it while retyping it on Word. Not much of a proofreader. Sorry, loves. If anyone wants to be, like, a beta reader for me or something, by all means, please contact me.<strong>

**The story so far: Alice introduced her musical talent to the Lost Boys and Slightly had taken more interest in her. After singing a song for the Boys, Alice retreated to her room. When Peter asked what was wrong, one thing led to another and he ended up taking her back to London for an emergency. Alice called her friend April and returned to Neverland with Peter.**

* * *

><p><strong>Redrum<strong>

**Summary:** Alice is a teenager with normal teenager problems, except that she's another one of Wendy's descendants who get whisked off by Peter Pan. Will he be able to make her forget about Matt? Peter x OC, present generation. Disney-verse. Expect love triangles.

_**Chapter 4**_

_Hook_

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><p>Alice woke up that night, sensing that all-too-familiar feeling of wetness. Thankfully, she was in her room again. Peter must have sent the Lost Boys to their room and carried Alice to hers. She had to admit, that would have been awfully sweet of him.<p>

She stood up and glanced at her sheets—no stain. Letting out a sigh of combined relief and aggravation, she went to her bag, took out one of her little packets and changed right there.

But when she went back to bed, she found that she couldn't fall back asleep. Instead, she went outside. It was dark, but it wasn't like downtown from where she lived, where there was a high risk of getting mugged in every alley. She remembered a guy friend getting mugged once, and his story always sent shivers down her spine. It's amazing how low people could go. Then again, it could have been that the mugger needed food—taking money from others was his only way to survive. But even that was a stupid reason.

Before she realized it, Alice was already at the base of the tree. She decided to wander. The treehouse wasn't too difficult to find, even in this darkness. She went off to the clearing where they had played Heaven and Earth earlier.

Then she noticed a lone firefly. Having lived in the city, she had never seen one before. The girl followed it, fascinated by how the little insect could glow with a light like Tinkerbell's light. It led her through the trees and to a meadow. She looked around her, amazed at her surroundings.

The meadow was filled with flowers that apparently only bloomed at night. Their petals glimmered a pale while, as though reflecting the light of the moon. Fireflies danced over the flowers, and the stars seemed to shine more brightly. It was breathtaking.

But Alice's view of the meadow was cut short when she was suddenly pulled backwards by the arm and put into a large sack. She couldn't do anything to get herself out, but her situation was just so annoying that she couldn't help but berate her captor.

"Let me outta here!" she shrieked from inside the sack. "Honestly, you think you'd learn some manners and NOT FUCKING KIDNAP A GIRL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! What the fuck is WRONG with you? What are you gonna do afterwards? Molest me? Don't be a fucking pedophile and go back to looking at your creepy-ass shit child porn and fucking your mom!"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, YOU BLASTED GIRL!" her captor's thunderous voice boomed.

From the voice, Alice could tell it was a man. Though he seemed dangerous, she knew the residents of Neverland wouldn't harm her in the way people on Earth would, and she wasn't going to back down. She couldn't fight anyway—the least she could do was trashtalk him in the hopes that he would just drop her there and leave her in annoyance. There was, of course, the risk that he would just kill her to shut her up, but the thought barely crossed her mind.

"What, you think telling me to shut up will make me shut up?" she asked. "You're retarded-ass shit. No wonder your mom left you here to rot, you disgusting piece of shi—"

Her line of colorfully worded insults was cut short when the sack was thrown on the hard wooden floor. When the sack opened, two chunky hands grabbed Alice's arms and tied her hands quickly and tightly with rope.

"Comfortable, my dear?" Captain Hook asked as a large pirate forced the girl to sit on a wooden chair.

"I imagine you'd be fine in this situation, bondage freak," she hissed.

"Temper, temper," he taunted, pointing his hook at her neck. "We wouldn't want any accidents to happen here, would we? Poor Peter would be devastated."

"The only accident here is you! Your dad must've regretted not wearing a condom that night."

"ALRIGHT, ENOUGH BLABBER," the captain yelled. "Smee!"

The short and somewhat stumpy first mate rushed into the captain's quarters, clumsily fiddling with his fingers. "Yes, Cap'n?"

"See to it that our guest is at home here. Pan will be looking for her, and we need her to be in her best appearance when he comes here."

Hook headed for the piano in the back of the room, while Alice glared daggers at Smee who approached her with caution.

"Now, now," the first mate murmured shakily. "Staring is rude and little girls shouldn't stare."

"Yeah, because kidnapping is the most polite thing to do to little girls," she retorted sarcastically. "No wait, it's twice as rude and cocksuckers like you shouldn't be doing it, right, Hook?"

"Ignore her, Smee," the captain said as he began playing do-re-mi.

"Why did you kidnap me anyway?" She sighed in exasperation. "God, I have more important things to do than being here yelling at two bumbling idiots like you."

"Then shut up," Hook muttered under his breath. He began playing a simple yet lively tune on the piano and sighed in relief when Alice said nothing.

"I have to admit though," she murmured, almost to herself. "It's nice to be around adults for a change, even if it's pirates."

"Why, thank you, miss," Smee chuckled, adjusting his tiny glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Miss, miss… what _is_ your name, little girl?"

"Alice."

"And you are Jane's daughter?" Hook asked.

"My lineage is none of your business."

"Come now, child," he reasoned. "You know very well who I am. It's only fair to tell me who you are."

"Because clearly, pirates like playing fair, right?" she snapped.

Hook's first mate chuckles airily. "She has a point there, Cap'n."

The captain wanted to yell at both Smee and the little girl, but he thought otherwise. He only continued playing the piano, with which Alice seemed to be fascinated. She stood from her seat and watched as Hook's finger and hook pressed the white and black keys, creating a melody.

"What songs can you play?" she asked curiously. Alice seemed very different now. Her previously rage-filled features softened and her big blue eyes gazed at the piano keys.

"Do you know how to play, little girl?" the pirate asked back, twirling his mustache with his hook.

"I only know how to play one song," she said, trying to reach the keys with her hands tied behind her back. "A… friend taught me." She seemed to hesitate and with her words, even more so than her struggle to play the piano with hands tied.

Hook used his hook to cut through Alice's rope. He scooted in his velvet-covered seat to allow space for the girl, and he watched as she began playing a slow tune on the piano.

He raised an eyebrow at her. It was a song he had never heard before—though considering the time he had spent away from Earth, it was rather normal. "What's that song called?"

"_Out of My League_," she replied. "My, uhh… friend—he took piano lessons when he was younger, so he taught me this song." She cleared her throat. "Anyway, I wish I could learn other songs. I'm starting to get sick of this one…"

The pirate stood. "If you'll excuse me, I must take my leave for the moment. Feel free to continue playing the piano."

He turned to Smee and, with his hook, dragged the first mate out the door. As soon as they were out of earshot, Captain Hook beamed his usual evil grin as though he had cracked up a new brilliant idea to get Peter Pan.

Smee, who seemed unaware of his captain's smile, merely asked, "What ever are we going to do with that little Alice, Cap'n?"

"Don't you see what's wrong with her, Smee?"

He shook his head.

Hook groaned in annoyance at the older man. "She's a woman scorned," he explained. "In this state, she's easily susceptible to falling in love."

"With whom, Cap'n?" Smee asked in confusion.

"With Pan, of course!" he yelled.

"But Peter Pan can't fall in love," the first mate reasoned. "He's much too childish to return her feelings. How sad…"

"Precisely. And when she's fallen too deeply for him, we shall be there to show her what kind of man Peter Pan truly is."

Smee gasped. "Alice will be heartbroken!"

"Exactly, Smee!" Hook guffawed at the genius of his scheme. "With just a bit of friendly advice from an adult familiar with the concept of love—from an adult like me—she could very well be the key to Pan's undoing."

"So… why is she here, Cap'n?"

Hook stared bleakly at his dimwitted subordinate. "We need Pan to rescue her from us. But we still need her to trust us as adults. That way, we can advise her about the complicated subject of love. We'll let Pan work his charms on her for the moment."

The two saw a large pirate enter the captain's quarters and heard Alice verbally berating him as she did Hook ad Smee.

"I'm a girl on edge!" The young girl's voice could be heard clearly from outside, even with the door shut. "You do NOT want to MESS WITH ME! Do you know how many times I've kicked guys—GROWN MEN—in their balls? YOU WANNA BE PART OF MY LIST?"

"Now, now, Alice," Captain Hook sang as he entered the quarters. "What would dear Peter say if he heard you?"

"Hook!" she called. "Tell this burly buffoon to get his paws off of me if he doesn't wanna become sterile!"

"Captain, the prisoner's loose," the pirate said.

Hook looked at the gorilla-like man and blinked. "Yes, I can see that. But she isn't our prisoner. Alice is our guest and is to be treated accordingly."

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><p>Meanwhile, at the treehouse, Slightly was causing a commotion. He had noticed Alice's disappearance and rushed to alert Peter.<p>

"Peter, Peter!" he called while running through the halls. "Alice is missing! She isn't in her room!"

The older boy got up groggily and fixed his auburn hair. "What were you doing in her room…?" he mumbled sleepily.

"Oh, uhh… well, I—" the Lost Boy stammered. "I just noticed somethin' didn't seem right, so I came lookin' for her."

Peter raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Instead he whistled, and the rest of the Lost Boys ran and lined up in his room. They were still sleepy but tried their best to maintain their disciplined stance.

"Boys, our mother's gone missing," Peter stated in his authoritative voice. "She may have wandered off into the forest and gotten lost. Your mission is to bring her back safely." He eyed Slightly in particular. "Dismissed."

As the Lost Boys scurried out of his room, he flew out the window to scout from the sky. He was just as worried about Alice as Slightly was, but he refused to show that in front of the Lost Boys. After all, he was Peter Pan—their leader and role model.

Sensing the ruckus outside, Tinkerbell left her room and went out of the treehouse. She saw Peter floating around and approached him.

"Alice's gone missing, Tink," he told the fairy. "We've gotta find her."

The pixie saluted him and dove into the forest. There she met a firefly and, moments later, returned to Peter to report her findings.

"Kidnapped?" he repeated, eyes widened. "By Hook? That old codfish is still around? Okay, tell the Lost Boys. I'll go look for Hook's ship and bring back Alice."

Peter dove down to the area where Tinkerbell had gone and looked for any clues regarding Alice's kidnapping. When he saw a single firefly, his instincts told him to follow it. The firefly led him to the same meadow where Alice had gone earlier that evening. There he saw a clump of grass that seemed to have gone through a struggle.

"This must be where she was when they took her…" he murmured to himself.

He looked around and saw a half-broken branch. After that, there were no other clues, so Peter had no choice but to just follow the direction of the struggle. It was odd that a straight line led him to a concealed pirate ship, and it was perhaps the most luck he'd encountered that night. The ship was much smaller than the Jolly Roger, and pirates—Hook's crew—were guarding it.

A skinny pirate with an eye patch entered the captain's quarters. "Captain, Pan has been spotted."

Hook smiled. "Wonderful." He turned to Alice and said, "Alice dear, it's time to go and give Peter our warm welcome."

He led the young girl out the door and his nemesis quickly toward the ship. Peter had originally intended for a stealthy approach, but the mere sight of Alice pushed him to face the pirates head-on.

"Peter!" Alice called.

"Let her go, Hook!" Peter yelled from the clouds.

Captain Hook's smile became even more crooked—his plan was going quite perfectly. "Oh, Peter, I was simply making friends with dear little Alice. She seems to have a knack for music, you know." He released the girl. "Worry not, my dear boy. I'll let her off unharmed, although tradition _does_ dictate that you fight for her freedom."

Without a second thought, Peter charged at Hook and the large pirate who had held Alice captive. The young girl was about to tell him not to fight, but he swiftly turned and grabbed her. In less than a second, he was in the air again with Alice in his arms.

"I'll get you, Peter Pan!" Hook yelled as his men aimed the cannons at the child.

Two cannons fired, but Peter dodged them both with ease.

"You'll never catch me, you old codfish!" the boy laughed.

Three more cannons, and he dodged them all. The cannonballs were shot in an alignment that allowed Peter to dodge them and, at the same time, get away from the ship.

When they were far enough, Peter set Alice down on a large boulder. Her mind was somewhat occupied, so she couldn't listen as the green-clad boy retold the events to her. She was there when it happened, so she wasn't exactly missing anything, but she nodded along anyway. The least she could do was acknowledge—and maybe laugh along—as he mocked the pirate captain whom he had bested countless times for decades.

"That's odd," she murmured. "I didn't think Hook would actually fire at us…"

"He's Captain Hook, Alice," Peter replied in an almost scolding tone. "He's a cold, heartless pirate, and he could've killed you if he wanted to."

"If he wanted to," she repeated, emphasizing the "if".

"But he can't do that if I'm around," the boy bragged. "I'll show you put the ol' codfish in his place." He floated up in the air and crowed excitedly like a rooster.

"Peter, he didn't seem to want to hurt me," she reasoned.

He raised an eyebrow at her and flew over her, looking at her as though she had carrots for ears.

"He was even teaching me how to play the piano. But I guess he was just trying to get me to trust him or something…"

"Exactly," he nodded. "And you should be more careful, Alice. Why were you out so late anyway?"

She grunted. "Nn. I needed some fresh air."

He chuckled. "You always need fresh air."

"What can I say? I just really appreciate nature's clean air," she joked but sighed almost immediately afterwards. "Well, I couldn't sleep…" she trailed off. "Still have some things on my mind. In fact, I wouldn't mind—" She yawned. "—sleeping out here, surrounded by fresh air, just to get my mind off of things…"

When Peter turned to look at her, she was already lying on the boulder and fast asleep. A smile formed on his lips, and he sank and lay beside her. The sleeping girl beside him instinctively snuggled her head into his neck and shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around her to keep her warm. **(A/N: Lol, sure, Peter. We believe you.)**

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><p>It was already bright out when Alice awoke the next morning. Peter lay fast asleep on his tummy and had an arm over Alice's chest. She took the arm and gently moved it so that she wasn't trapped beside him. Unfortunately, the boy woke up from the contact.<p>

"Mornin', Alice," he mumbled groggily.

"I can't believe we actually did sleep out here," she muttered with a soft giggle. She turned to look at the boy beside her and froze when she noticed the ever-persistent wet feeling.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Wha—nothing, nothing, I just—this, I mean—" She sighed in defeat. She couldn't possibly beat around the bush with this boy—at least, not with this subject matter. "I gotta change. Uhh…."

Alice took a risk—and a large risk at that—in showing her bloodstain to him, but she already knew he didn't know about menstrual periods. Showing him the blood would only make it seem urgent to him.

He got on his feet and carried her back to the treehouse. There, Cubby and Tootles waited. When the two older children arrived, Alice quickly ran to her room to change and Peter was barraged by Cubby.

"Where were ya all night, Peter?" the large Lost Boy asked. "The others are still out lookin' for you guys. Slightly hasn't come home at all since he found out Mother was missin'."

"Should we look for them?" Alice asked worriedly from inside her room—typical of a mother whose her children were out alone.

"Nah, they'll be fine on their own." Cubby turned to the older boy. "So what took ya so long? Where'd ya find her?"

"Hook caught 'er, Cubby," Peter told him. "I'll tell ya all about it tonight."

Alice exited her room, rolling her eyes at Peter. She thought of the night before—how she had trusted Hook, sort of, how she had been rescued so heroically by Peter, how he had stayed beside her and kept her warm through the cold night out. But what dominated her thoughts was the moment Peter laid his eyes on Alice's bloodstain. Her thoughts were interrupted by Cubby's stomach growling and the large boy himself grumbling about food.

"P—Peter…" Alice murmured as she approached the green-clad boy. "Umm, about this morning—"

"Oh, hey Alice." He turned around and cleared his throat. "What about this morning?"

"M—my bloodstain…"

"Hook must've hurt you pretty bad, huh?" he asked, taking her hand. "Don't worry, Alice. I'll never let him touch you again."

She pulled her hand out of his grasp and stared the boy in his eyes. "That's not it, Peter," she said. "Listen to me. My bleeding… it's not because I'm hurt or anything. I'm bleeding because—well, it's a sign of puberty… a sign of growing up—"

"You can't grow up!" he blurted out, turning away from her. "You can't…"

"Peter—"

"Not after Jane or Wendy or Mary…" He took her hand again. "I don't wanna lose anyone else ever again. I don't want you to grow up. Me and the Lost Boys—we need you, Alice. We need you."

Alice cupped Peter's cheek with her free hand and looked into his dark eyes. "There's more to life than growing up or staying a child forever, Peter. I hope you understand that." She faked a cough and broke her gaze. "Well, I hope those boys come back soon. They're making their mother worried."

Her voice was peculiar and uneasy, Peter noted. Perhaps he should ease the tension somehow.

"And their father," the boy added with a reassuring smile.

"Peter…" Her voice trailed off as she walked to the bed.

When she glanced at the doorway again, Peter wasn't there—he had gone outside. The girl plopped herself on her bed and scooted backwards to lean on the windowpane. She pulled her legs up and hugged her knees.

"That's the first time…" she murmured to herself, "someone didn't judge me for that…"

She looked outside and saw the trees and bushes rustling. There was no breeze though, so that only meant one thing. The Lost Boys were coming home.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, this was a bit of a romantic chapter. That is, if you look past all of the swearing. But I apologize because I'm not very good with "romance". I honestly prefer UST to fluff, but mostly because I'm not good at writing fluff. This isn't really that fluffy. It's just really cheesy. Well, cheesy has always been part of Peter's appeal anyway. He has a peculiar charm about him.<strong>

**But Hook has a plan that would lead to Peter's demise. Will it work? Who knows? Well, find out in the next chapters.**

**By the way, you can't imagine how much fun I had writing Alice's pissy dialogue. I kind of rant like that, so I'm a bit used to it, but Alice's rants are actually pretty different from mine in a lot of ways. I won't go into it. And please, don't try to hunt down my long-ass rants. They ain't pretty.**

**Aww, why don't you guys review? I'm uploading these as fast as I can. D: Since school just started again, I might have to halt my writing, and the breathtaking lack of reviews doesn't really help…**

**Emphasis on review. :|**

**I'm just kidding. I love you guys~~**

**~ froggy**


	5. Girls

**Edit (12/29/2011): Changed the summary.  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own Peter Pan and the characters in this story, apart from Alice. I also don't own the song **_**Hey Stephen**_**. That belongs to Taylor Swift (and them other people, if there are other people who own that song). Another thing I don't own: Romeo and Juliet. I assume you'd figure that out on your own, but just in case. Yeah, totally not mine.**

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><p><strong>Sorry for putting in a Taylor Swift song here. She has so many love songs that fit Alice's situations (as a preteen with preteen problems), so expect more of those. I'll try to avoid adding in songs though. Nothing's better than a good ol' regular chapter with fluff andor UST, amirite? Of course I'm right.**

**The story so far: Alice was kidnapped by Hook and his crew in the middle of the night. However, instead of the straight-out usage of the girl to get to Peter, Hook intends to befriend her and make Peter look better in Alice's eyes, in the hopes of getting her to fall in love with the boy who never grew up. Peter rescued her and the two fall asleep together out in the forest. When they get home the next morning, Alice learned about Peter's feelings about her, about growing up, about being left behind.**

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><p><strong>Expecto - <strong>Thanks for reviewing! I tried my best to write quickly (I usually write on my phone when I can't access my laptop) so I can upload quickly too. I'll try to finish this because I know how it feels when you're following something and the author doesn't finish it. D:

**the . bat . mobile **(for some reason without the spaces, it just comes out as .mobile)** - **Thank you! I haven't written fluff in such a long time that I don't even know how to write proper hardcore fluff, but thanks so much for seeing the good in my own fluff. ^_^; I'll definitely try to finish, even with school and all.**  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Redrum<strong>

**Summary:** Alice is a teenager with normal teenager problems, except that she's another one of Wendy's descendants who get whisked off by Peter Pan. Will he be able to make her forget about Matt? Peter x OC, present generation. Disney-verse. Expect love triangles.

**_Chapter 5_**

_Girls_

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><p>Alice had been in Neverland for three days now. She liked being away from her busy life in America, but that was the very reason that she and her mother went to London in the first place. And now she was spending her vacation away in an entirely different world.<p>

Although she did enjoy the company of Peter and the Lost Boys, she simply wanted to be around people similar to her. Hook and his crew, though adults, carried the risk of harming her, and she knew very well that Peter didn't trust the pirates. Perhaps what Alice was looking for wasn't the company of an adult. Instead, perhaps she was looking for somebody she could relate with—a girl.

"Aren't there any girls in Neverland?" Alice sighed, blowing her bangs away from her forehead. She had just finished her guitar lesson with Slightly for that morning. "Apart from Tinkerbell, that is."

"Well, 'course there are, Alice," the boy answered with a grin. "There's the mermaids an' Tiger Lily. But the mermaids don't like anyone except Peter. They once tried to drown me!"

"That's nothin' but a bunch of ol' fish tales," Nibs butted in. "You've never went near the mermaids!"

"I did too!" Slightly whined. "Splashed water at me, they did. Then one of 'em tried to pull me into the lagoon."

Cubby seemed to overhear the argument as well. "Luckily, I came in an' rescued 'im!"

The fox-clad boy narrowed his eyes at his larger friend. "What are you talkin' about? They pulled you in, too. How's that rescuing?"

"So how did you get out?" Alice asked, engaged by the story.

"Peter saved us," Slightly and Cubby replied in unison, each trying to hide their embarrassment.

"An' he told 'em off, the mermaids," Nibs added.

"Where do the mermaids live?" their mother asked.

The three Lost Boys looked at each other, as though having a telepathic conversation with one another.

"Don't go lookin' for them, Alice!"

"Peter's forbidden any of us to go near 'em since they tried to drown Wendy!"

"He didn't even show 'em to Jane!"

Alice looked at each one of them and thought for a moment. "Well, if he's told them off before, they wouldn't do it again, right?" She didn't wait for them to answer. Instead she walked off to Peter's room.

"Peter," she called. "Peter, I need to talk to you!"

The boy flew to her from the back of the room and landed gently in front of her. "What's wrong, Alice?" he asked.

"You didn't' tell me there were other girls in Neverland!" she stated in an accusatory tone, crossing her arms and turning away.

He thought for a moment. "Well, you never asked."

"I wanna meet them." Her big blue eyes looked at him pleadingly. "It's so boring being the only girl here, Peter."

"Oh," he hesitated, scratching the back of his neck. "Well, I can take you to the Piccaninny Tribe. Their princess, Tiger Lily, is a girl, too."

The girl smiled. "I'd like that, Peter," she murmured. "I'd like that very much."

Peter caught himself smiling back at her with a sheepish grin uncharacteristic of him. "We gotta get you duster first," he said, turning to the doorway. "Tinkerbell!"

"Uhh, actually, I don't really like flying," she stuttered. "On my own, that is. Afraid of falling and all."

"Oh." The boy blinked before hollering again for Tinkerbell. "Sorry, Tink! She says she's not going to fly!"

He walked out to the porch with Alice and told her to latch onto his back. She seemed hesitant to let him carry her again, but he said that she had to choose between a piggyback ride and a bridal carry.

"I have to carry you either way, Alice," he reasoned. "On my back or in my arms—it's your choice."

The young girl groaned in annoyance and grabbed Peter's shoulders from behind. She held tightly onto the boy as he hopped onto the wooden railings and used them as a platform for their liftoff.

Though Alice hated heights—or rather, being in the sky and holding on to nothing but a boy—like any normal person would, she admitted that she enjoyed flying with Peter. At least, in Neverland she did. The view was always breathtaking, even at night, much unlike the ground view in the States. And it wasn't just the view she liked. The mere presence of Peter made her heart warmer than it usually felt.

Her eyes widened. What on earth was she thinking? She cleared her throat and tried to think of other things, her grip on Peter tightening as she did.

The boy glanced at her over his shoulder and nearly coughed. "A—Alice," he stuttered, "that's a bit too tight."

She looked back at him as her brain registered his words. Then she gasped and loosened her grip on him before looking away, her face flushed in embarrassment. "Sorry, Peter…"

He touched one of her hands and smiled charmingly in reassurance. Alice hated it when he smiled like that. It made him seem like a normal boy, influenced by hormones and peer pressure.

In an attempt to keep herself from thinking strange thoughts, Alice adjusted her grip on Peter. Her wrist happened to graze on the boy's growing Adam's apple and her fingers on his clavicle.

"Peter, you're going through puberty," she mumbled. Her face was buried into his back so her voice was muffled, but she wasn't sure if he heard her or not.

The rest of the flight was quiet, but almost unbearably uncomfortable for Alice. She barely got the pleasure of enjoying the view considering that she had to hold on for dear life and that Peter's red hair kept blowing into her face. The worst part was the uncomfortable silence between them. By their arrival at the Tribe, she was already sure that he did hear her.

A Native American man approached them as Peter landed on a clear area. The green-clad boy grinned at him and the two spoke in some strange language Alice didn't understand. After about a minute of conversation, the man began to walk away and Peter motioned Alice to follow him.

Soon they reached a large tent where two other Native American men stood on guard. The guide spoke to the two guards and entered the tent. When he exited, he was with a young, Native American girl. She was around Alice and Peter's age, with dark hair in loose pigtail braids and an ornate headdress made with leather and large bird feathers.

Upon sight of the raven-haired girl, Alice screamed. As soon as she ended her high-pitched shriek, she had her arms around Tiger Lily in a tight glomp. She quickly pulled away and turned to Peter while jumping around excitedly.

"Oh my God, Peter, a girl!" she squealed. "A girl! There's a girl here! Like, I'm not the only one in Neverland. Oh my God, do you know how awesome this is? Oh my God, I'm dying!"

The boy panicked after her last words. "What? What's wrong, Alice?" he asked. "Don't die!"

She giggled and turned back to hug the clueless Tiger Lily. Nuzzling her cheek against the Native American girl's, Alice looked back at Peter. "Relax, honey," she grinned. "It's just an expression."

Alice cleared her throat and let go of Tiger Lily. As the Native American spoke to her two guards, the brunette went back to Peter and hugged him tightly. She buried her face into the boy's shoulder and laughed.

"I can't contain my excitement, Peter," she said in a muffled voice.

Soon the three children found themselves in Tiger Lily's tent. The young tribe chief sat between Alice's legs as the American braided her dark hair. Peter, on the other hand, sat beside them and watched the complicated process of Alice's French braid.

"You have no idea how much I missed braiding other girls' hair," Alice said. "And your hair is so nice and soft. It's like I can braid it forever."

The brown-haired girl's satisfied sigh unsettled Peter a bit, though he couldn't figure out why. Nearly everything about the sight of the two girls disturbed him. It felt as though there were floating hearts all around Alice as she cuddled the Native American girl.

"There are not many females in Neverland," Tiger Lily murmured as Alice neared the tips of her hair. "Especially ones of our age," she added. "It is a pleasure to find someone like you, Alice."

"Same to you, Tiger Lily." Alice buried her face into Tiger Lily's hair and sighed again. "Your hair smells so nice." She turned to Peter. "Peter, her hair smells so nice."

The boy blinked. Was she talking to him? "Uhh—yeah, sure."

Alice felt so high as she talked to Tiger Lily. She played with the young chief's hair in all ways she knew—regular braids, fishtail braids, rope braids, French braids, and countless variations of each. She even taught Tiger Lily how to braid in French braids.

Her escort, however, didn't know exactly what to do other than watch the two girls. He admitted it was amusing to watch Alice's smile getting wider and wider with each passing minute. She really did like being with a girl.

"Oh." She suddenly had an idea. "Tiger Lily, do you like music?"

The other girl nodded.

"Do you have a guitar?"

"One of the Lost Boys made one and gave it to me. But he never taught me how to use it, so it's just here…" Tiger Lily stood and fetched the guitar from a corner. She also brought a pair of bongo drums.

Alice grinned and turned to Peter. "Do you know how to play these, Peter?"

The boy lit up. "I can learn."

The brunette gave him a beat and told him to repeat it on the drums. Then she took the guitar and sat beside him. Tiger Lily went to the other children and sat down as well, anticipating whatever the other girl had to show her.

Alice began playing the guitar and humming. Peter noticed it was a different song from what she had played last time—it was more upbeat and happier. Even she seemed happier as she started singing.

"_Hey Stephen, I know looks can be deceiving  
>But I know I saw a light in you.<br>As we walked we were talking,  
>I didn't say half the things I wanted to.<em>"

The girl smiled at her two companions. If there was something she loved doing, it was singing. The only thing she loved more than that was bringing new music to people—something she had been doing to her newfound friends in Neverland.

"_Of all the girls tossin' rocks at your window,  
>I'll be the one waiting there even when it's cold.<em>"

She glanced at Peter who was focusing most of his attention on beating the drums. She smiled inwardly—he was learning something new.

"_Hey Stephen, boy, you might have me believing,  
>I don't always have to be alone.<em>"

Now her smile was evident on her face. It was amazing how the song seemed to fit her mood, or perhaps the song uplifted her mood when she started singing.

"'_Cause I can't help it if you look like an angel,  
>Can't help it if I wanna kiss you in the rain so.<em>"

The boy, noticing Alice's gaze on him, stole a glimpse of her as well. Just knowing that she was watching him made him want to work harder on the drums. The song just seemed so perfect that time. He didn't even know why.

"_Come feel this magic I've been feeling since I met you.  
>Can't help it if there's no one else.<em>"

Tiger Lily noticed the invisible lightning between the two. She remembered a girl who looked very much like Alice—Wendy. Wendy had come to Neverland so long ago, when Tiger Lily's father was still alive, when Tiger Lily was just the princess of the tribe. She remembered how Wendy became jealous of Tiger Lily when she thanked the boy for rescuing her.

"_Mmm, I can't help myself._"

Peter's eyes widened. He felt an odd tingle in himself when Alice sang that last line. His cheeks grew warm and he had to look down in embarrassment—yes, that was the feeling. Perhaps he had made a mistake and didn't notice it.

Alice edged closer to him and, like him, averted her gaze.

"_Hey Stephen, I've been holding back this feeling  
>So I've got some things to say to you.<em>"

It felt as though Alice was trying to say something. Maybe choosing this song was unconscious. Of course, nearly anything by Taylor Swift (whose songs she was in the mood for that time) would give off a similar feeling.

"_I've seen it all, so I thought.  
>But I never seen nobody shine the way you do.<em>"

In her mind, the chief recalled when Peter told her what had happened after the celebration of her rescue. Wendy had gotten upset with him, and naturally, the boy had no idea why. Tiger Lily, on the other hand, wasn't as naïve—she knew exactly why the other girl had been upset.

"_The way you walk, way you talk, way you say my name,  
>It's beautiful, wonderful, don't you ever change.<em>"

Peter's voice echoed in Alice's mind as she sang. He was calling out her name. It was odd how her mind conjured up thoughts of the boy to fit the song. It was like a music video playing in her head.

"_Hey Stephen, why are people always leaving?  
>I think you and I should stay the same.<em>"

The lines reminded Tiger Lily of the aftermath of Wendy and her brothers. Peter seemed upset with the English girl for going back to London, to her family. But at the same time, he had a glimmer of longing in his eyes. Tiger Lily couldn't tell if it was a mere crush, fancy for Wendy, or if he was in love with her.

The song's coincidence with her situation unnerved Alice. She was in a hurry to end the song already, even though she could see her friends were enjoying it. If they wanted more music, she could sing a different song instead. She decided to skip to the bridge.

"_They're dimming the streetlights, you're perfect for me.  
>Why aren't you here tonight?<em>"

Weirdly enough, the image of Matt appeared in her mind. It was somewhat blurry—perhaps she had forgotten how he looked. She brushed it off. There was no time to be sad. Not in Tiger Lily's presence, at least.

"I'm waiting alone now, so come on and come out,  
>And pull me near.<br>And shine, shine, shine…"

Alice was somewhat thankful that she remembered Matt. But the pain in her chest told her she was still in love with the older boy. She wanted to see him. As she thought that, a sad smile formed on her face.

"_Hey Stephen, I could give you fifty reasons  
>Why I should be the one you choose.<br>All those other girls, well, they're beautiful,  
>But would they right a song for you?<em>"

She placed her palm on the strings to stop the vibrations, deciding to end the song right then. Peter, noticing the lack of guitar and vocal accompaniment, also stopped playing. Both he and Tiger Lily looked at Alice, as though wordlessly asking her, "What next?"

"I wish you were here, Matt…" she murmured under her breath. With the sudden silence in the room, she was all but certain that Peter and Tiger Lily had heard her. She looked at both of them and grinned in reassurance. "Who wants to hear a story?"

"Finally, a story!" the auburn-haired boy exclaimed, scooting closer to the two girls.

"Don't get too excited," Alice replied, a mischievous smile forming on her face. "It's a love story."

This seemed to catch Tiger Lily's attention as she moved closer to Alice and an equally mischievous grin appeared on her face as well.

Alice reached into her bag and pulled out a book with a painting of two lovers on the cover. When she opened it, Peter could see that the book had no pictures inside—only words arranged in a way that they only took up half a page. He and Tiger Lily listened intently as Alice recited the first verse:

"Two households, both alike in dignity,  
>In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,<br>From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,  
>Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.<p>

From forth—"

"Alice…" Peter murmured curiously. "What's mutiny?"

The brown-haired girl looked at both of her confused companions and chuckled at her own carelessness. "Sorry, I guess I should tell the story in plain English." She closed the book and cleared her throat. "This is a story set in Verona, Italy where two families—the Capulets and the Montagues—have been fighting for generations…"

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><p>It had already started growing darker outside when Alice finished with her story. She remembered taking it up at school and used her book as reference for every detail she might have missed out on. It didn't seem like a story Peter would appreciate, since he always liked stories about adventure, but he seemed so fascinated when Alice recited lines and verses from the book.<p>

He had fallen asleep toward the end of the story—he lay down on Alice's lap and simply dozed off. Alice couldn't even remember when he fell asleep.

Tiger Lily, on the other hand, was so engrossed with the story, like Alice had been when she first read the story at school. But when the story ended, both girls became silent. The only sound heard in the tent was Peter's soft snoring.

"Tiger Lily," Alice murmured, breaking the silence, "tell me about Wendy."

"She was a girl whom Peter brought to Neverland long ago," Tiger Lily replied.

The brunette began stroking Peter's red hair, as though trying to keep him from waking up. After all, Wendy seemed to be a sensitive subject for the boy, and Alice didn't want him to find her snooping.

"Wendy is the mother of Jane, the first Lost Girl," she continued. "I never met Jane, but I met Wendy. She was not the first girl Peter Pan brought to Neverland, but she was a first something else."

"When she smiled, her big blue eyes twinkled, and Peter's cheeks would flush bright red. He would not make the same face as he did upon receiving his first kiss—the face of a hungry wolf. Instead he would be embarrassed and try to brush it off." She looked at Alice with eyes darker than Peter's own. "He never spoke of her after she left. Wendy was in none of his stories. Peter Pan barely ever said anything about Wendy."

Alice cleared her throat, visibly struggling to find the proper words with which to reply. "Did he like her?" She spoke in a whisper so as not to startle Peter. "I mean, as… you know…"

"Peter Pan is not honest with such matters," the Native American answered. "But as a female, I could see that he did."

"But he couldn't have just forgotten about her. She was his friend!"

"He did not forget about her until recently." She inched closer to the brunette and looked around, as though making sure nobody was listening. "Peter Pan forgets about people who have died."

The other girl nearly fell back in shock. If not for Peter sleeping on her lap, she probably would have fallen back. She uttered a word of thanks to Tiger Lily before poking the sleeping boy on her lap.

"Peter," she murmured into his ear. "Peter, it's time to go home."

"Five more minutes…" he moaned, turning over to his side.

Tiger Lily put a hand on Alice's shoulder. "You may stay here for the night," she said before standing up and leaving the tent.

Alice watched as the young chief exited. Perhaps she had a separate tent to sleep in.

The brunette then looked at Peter. She stroked his hair again and told him she was going to lie down as well. He was half-asleep, probably, as he rolled off her lap to give space for her. She lay down beside him and stared up at the ceiling of the tent. Peter must have been tired. It only made sense that he slept early since they had stayed up so late the night before. Alice was tired as well—it did not take long before she fell asleep beside him.

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><p><strong>Short chapter this time. Sorry it took so long to finish. I didn't know how to end the chapter. Originally, it was going to be longer than this but I decided to use the last parts of the chapter to start the next chapter. Change of plans and such.<strong>

**I made Tiger Lily speak because she's supposed to have "grown" (not physically) since the first movie. Her father, the Chief, died and she had to replace him as the leader of the tribe. She learned to speak English much more fluently than most of her people, mostly because she spends time with Peter.**

**She also mentions Peter's first kiss. If you remember in the first (Disney) movie, she kissed him after he saved her from Hook. It was in the scene where the tribe was celebrating and she was dancing, and Wendy was extremely jealous. They didn't show it explicitly, but considering how she buried her face into Peter's headdress and Peter's reaction immediately after, it's safe to assume she kissed him on the lips that time. And since Peter didn't know what a kiss was in the beginning of the movie (when he first met Wendy), it's also safe to assume that was his first kiss.**

**^Long paragraph, haha. R&R, loves~**

**~ froggy**


	6. Terence

**Edit (12/29/2011): Changed the summary.  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of the franchises Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. But I own Alice. I also don't own **_**The Second Star to the Right**_**, which is, in fact, included in the **_**Return to Neverland**_** soundtrack, and I'm using the version by Jesse McCartney. If you don't know why, it's because he voices Terence in the Tinkerbell movies. I'm sorry; I think I might include a song for each chapter. I also don't own The Sleeping Beauty.  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Brace yourselves; there are talking fairies in this chapter. (And for those who shun the Tinkerbell franchise… brace yourselves twice as much. Sorry, but I'm just a Jesse McCartney fangirl, so I couldn't resist putting Terence here.)<strong>

**The story so far: Alice missed the company of girls her age, so Peter took her to the Piccaninny Tribe to meet Chief Tiger Lily. That's pretty much it.**

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><p><strong>Expecto - <strong>Thanks again for reviewing! I'll try my best to update as soon as I can. :3

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><p><strong>Redrum<strong>

**Summary:** Alice is a teenager with normal teenager problems, except that she's another one of Wendy's descendants who get whisked off by Peter Pan. Will he be able to make her forget about Matt? Peter x OC, present generation. Disney-verse. Expect love triangles.

**_Chapter 6  
><em>**

_Terence  
><em>

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><p>Peter was the first to awaken the next morning. When he opened his dark eyes, the first thing he saw was a sleeping girl beside him. Alice. A smile formed on the boy's lips and he propped himself up so that he rested on his elbow. He reached out, and with his free hand, stroked the girl's brown hair. The action seemed to awake her for she opened her eyes and looked up at him.<p>

"Good morning, Alice," he whispered with his usual charming smile. **(A/N: Dammit, Peter. Dammit.)**

"Peter…" she murmured, slowly blinking her eyes open. Suddenly she shot up and looked around in panic. "I stayed the night out again! I have to change—oh my God, what if—"

He looked at her, and after struggling to stifle his laughter, he said, "You're bleeding a river, Alice."

As planned, that comment set the young girl freaking out and rolling around in the sheets to look for her stain. To her surprise, there was no stain at all. Alice immediately turned with her suspicious eyes to the red-haired boy who laughed as though he had just bested Hook and his entire crew for the umpteenth time.

"Peter!" she whined, throwing herself on him. "You do _not_ joke about those things! It's embarrassing as hell!"

But when she quieted down, she realized that she had her arms around the boy. Both cleared their throats in embarrassment and turned away, ears and cheeks burning red.

The awkward moment was interrupted (thankfully) by a series of loud crashes just outside the tent, followed by several footsteps and marches. Peter and Alice left their tent as well to see what had made the noise. To everyone's surprise, the source of the sound was a broken music box—as though stepped on by an elephant.

When one Native American tribesman stepped forward and picked up the box, they saw a pixie lying on the ground. Alice approached the fairy and the tribesman gave her the music box. Upon a closer look, she found that the fairy was male. This was very peculiar—she had never seen a male fairy before (not that she had ever seen a fairy before she met Tinkerbell). She'd had the assumption that male fairies were human-sized creatures that supposedly drank blood, lived in forests and sparkled under sunlight, all thanks to mass media.

The pixie was out cold, so she carefully picked him up and placed him in her open palm. She scrutinized the little winged thing and saw that he was actually quite handsome, with dirty blonde hair under a little beret made from an acorn. In his hands he held two small pouches kept closed by a tiny rope.

She turned to Peter. "Is it… dead?" she asked unsurely.

"No, he's just…" Peter trailed off. "We'd better take him to Tinkerbell. C'mon!"

Alice nodded and grabbed the broken music box. When the green-clad boy approached her, she let him carry her in his arms as she cradled the fairy in her own arms. She could feel that Peter was in a hurry in his flight—the winds were stronger and they arrived after a short time.

As Peter took the pixie to Tinkerbell's room, Alice borrowed the music box and observed it in her room. It looked expensive—the kind you could find in antique stores and little kids couldn't touch because their parents would have to pay for it if it broke. When she opened the mahogany box, an anthropomorphic butterfly raised on a dainty round platform, yet it did not spin. Normally the music would play when it spun, but the butterfly merely sat still.

She nearly dropped the music box when Peter spoke. Alice didn't know how long he had been in her room, but she was definitely surprised when she learned of his presence.

"He's a friend of Tink's," the boy said, breaking the silence. "Apparently, he's been bringing things for Tink to fix since… since who-knows-when." He seemed different—perhaps he was jealous of this new fairy?

"So _that's_ what Tink's been doing when she's not here!" Alice exclaimed. "She wasn't hanging out with fireflies. She was fixing things!"

"He's looking for the music box."

She closed the box. "He's awake already?"

Peter nodded and led her out of the room and into Tinkerbell's. Alice approached the hollowed tree trunk where Tink glowed. The male fairy was on Tink's bed; he also glowed and he was conscious, but only barely.

'The music box!' the male fairy called out upon sight of the box. He attempted to get up, but Tinkerbell shook her head and flew toward Alice.

'Don't get up, Terence,' she told him. 'You have to rest.' The green-clad pixie turned to Alice and spoke (or rather, rang), 'Alice, set the music box over there.' She floated past the human girl and pointed to a table in the corner of the room.

Alice's eyes widened. Before this, she could only hear ringing whenever Tink spoke, even though she always somehow understood the fairy. Now she was actually hearing words—actual English words. She meant to reply to the pixie, but all she could manage was a squeak.

Tinkerbell seemed too worried about the other pixie to actually work on the music box, but she glanced at Alice with pleading eyes. 'Watch over Terence, will you?'

The girl nodded obediently and looked at the fairy lying on the small bed. "I've never seen a male fairy before, y'know," she started in an attempt to spark up a conversation with the fairy. "I always thought they were pretty… umm, well… gay." Bad idea.

'We're called sparrow-men,' Terence replied with a pained grunt. 'Male "fairies" don't exist.'

"Oh, sorry."

'It's okay,' he said. 'None of us sparrow-men ever leave Pixie Hollow, let alone Neverland, so I guess humans wouldn't know about us. Only Peter Pan's seen us.'

"I see," she murmured. "So," she continued in a whisper, a knowing grin appearing on her face, "you like Tink, huh?"

The sparrow-man was caught off-guard with her comment and quickly looked around in a panic. 'W—what makes you say that?'

"I can see it in your eyes," Alice giggled, "especially when you look at her."

'She's… different from other pixies.'

Her smile widened. "I like you, Mr. Sparrow Man. I like you a lot. The name's Alice. Alice Carlisle."

'I'm Terence. It's nice to meet you, Alice. I'd offer a hand for you to shake, but—'

"Honey, it's okay," she laughed, "you're already injured enough as it is. I don't think you'd look as cute as you are right now if a giant hand went to shake your own little arm there, no offense."

'None taken.'

"Uhh… Terence," she mumbled, shifting awkwardly. "Do you sing?"

'Wha?'

"No, cuz—" She cleared her throat. "—you have the same voice as this really popular—andohmygodreallycute—singer where I come from…"

'Uhh, well—'

"Please," she begged, "c'mon, I'll start for you. This should be pretty easy. It's a lullaby my mom learned from my grandmother."

"_The second star to the right  
>shines in the night for you<em>—"

She stopped herself when she noticed the sparrow-man just staring up at her from Tinkerbell's bed. He gave her an incredulous look, as though wordlessly telling her that there was no way he would sing for her.

'I know we're called _sparrow_-men,' he sighed, 'but that doesn't necessarily mean we actually _sing_ or anything. How about I just whistle for you?'

"Yea—no." She shot him back the same incredulous look and, ignoring the rest of his pleas and complaints, began singing again.

"_The second star to the right_—"

She groaned. "Honestly, if you're not gonna sing with me, I'm gonna start rapping right now and there's nothing you can do about it."

'What?'

Alice took a deep breath before she began again. She had to play a beat in her mind and tap on the hollow wood to get started.

"_Ready, here we go  
>Dream your way to the stars in the sky<br>You and me, me and you on our way to the top  
>Spread your wings, we can fly to the stars in the sky<br>To the left to the moon is the star on the right  
>And I can meet you, I can meet you, I can meet you<em>…"

"And that's where you come in," she said. When she received no reply, she groaned in exaggerated exasperation, before lighting up again. "Have I told you how much Tinkerbell loves it when I sing?" she teased. "I'm sure she'd love it even more if you were the one to sing to her."

Terence looked up at her—he was interested in what she had to offer. 'I'm listening.'

"Can you imagine the panties dropping—I mean, don't—don't you hear how hot your voice is?" she asked. "Y'know, the guy with the same voice as you—he's got millions of girls swooning over him. With a voice like that, you'd definitely be able to catch the heart of a certain little pixie I know."

The sparrow-man cleared his throat nervously and glanced past Alice's shoulders. He worried if Tink might hear them from the table in the corner, though judging by the random clangs from that general direction, the tinker-talent fairy was too busy to hear just about anything. Then he shifted his gaze back to Alice.

'Alright, fine.'

"Awesome," she chuckled. "Y'know, if you were human, I bet I'd have a huge crush on you. You're really cute, Terence. So anyway, I'll teach you the rap first. Don't worry, it's pretty easy to learn if you're up to the task…"

From outside Tinkerbell's room, Peter listened to the conversation between the girl and the sparrow-man. There was something different about how Alice treated Terence—something strange. It wasn't the same as how she treated Peter or Slightly or the other Lost Boys, and it almost reminded him of Alice's friendship with Tiger Lily.

He watched them through the curtains at the doorway, a smile tugging at his lips. Though he was jealous that he still wasn't the center of Alice's attention (he'd tried countless times to show off), he couldn't help but smile, seeing how happy she was with her new friend.

Suddenly, he noticed a pair of black furry ears bouncing past him and into the room. He did a double take and saw that a game of tag had forced Tootles to run and hide in Tinkerbell's room. The older boy followed his skunk suit-clad friend into the room and rushed to protect Tink's music box when he saw Tootles running toward the table in the corner.

"No can do, Tootles," he told the younger boy. "Tink's busy here." He glanced out the window and grinned at Tootles. "How about we go play outside?" Before the little boy could react, Peter lit up and floated excitedly. "C'mon, we can play that game Alice taught us! Heaven and Earth! It'll be fun!"

"That's no fair, Peter," one of the twins chimed in, poking his head in through the doorway.

The other twin poked in as well. "You can fly to Heaven whenever you want!"

"How about hide-and-seek?" Alice suggested. "Except everyone's blind-folded."

The four boys looked at her, their mouths wide open in awe and wonder. They yelled in excitement and ran out of the room in a flash, leaving with a sudden wind that surprised even Alice. Only moments after they left, the three other Lost Boys wandered into the room.

"Have you seen Peter, Alice?" Nibs asked. "He said we were gonna go make fun of the pirates!"

"Yeah, I heard they've got new cabin boys again," Slightly giggled.

Cubby shook his head. "Naw, Hook hasn't gotten any new cabin boys since after Jane left."

Alice couldn't help but chuckle at the three young boys. They were the older half of the Lost Boys and always seemed to be looking for trouble, much like the boys in her neighborhood back in America. "He went out to play with the others. Hide-and-seek with blindfolds."

In a strange rush of déjà vu, the three boys gasped like Peter and the twins did before disappearing with an odd breeze through the room. Alice merely cleared her throat and turned to Tinkerbell as she continued tinkering with the old music box.

"That's a pretty music box," she mused. "Not very old, but still kind of… rustic." She glanced at Terence. "Where'd you get it?"

'Some wind-talent fairies found it somewhere outside London,' he answered. Terence sat up, using his elbow as support, and pushed himself off the bed. He seemed a bit dazed at first, but he recovered and flew out of the hollowed-out tree trunk and toward Tinkerbell's work area.

The fairy gave him an odd, suspicious look to which he only grinned nervously.

'It wasn't Vidia, if that's what you're thinking, Tink,' he added. 'By the way, I came to deliver some extra dust, too.' Terence flew back to the tree trunk and emerged with his pouches.

"Dust?" Alice repeated.

'What we use to fly,' he explained. 'You didn't think Tink had an unlimited supply, did you?'

'Terence delivers dust from time to time, usually when he has something for me to fix' Tinkerbell continued for him, 'which is apparently everyday now.' She shot a suspicious glance at the sparrow-man.

'People have been breaking a lot of stuff, I guess,' he chuckled nervously, floating toward the music box. 'But this thing—it's different. It's not like those old pots and pans I usually bring.'

'It brings back old memories,' Tink finished cryptically.

"Hey, how come I actually understand what you guys are saying?" Alice asked. "I mean, before, it was just ringing, like a… well, like a bell."

Terence glanced at Tinkerbell and she glanced back before both looked at Alice. 'I don't know,' they shrugged.

When the silence settled, both Alice and Terence noticed a soft smile tugging at Tink's ruby red lips. However, the comfortable silence was short-lived when a loud crash from outside the treehouse, accompanied by an equally loud groan of pain and muffled laughter.

All three of them rushed to the window and looked down at the source of the noise. Unfortunately for Alice, a large branch was blocking the way and she had to go all the way down to the ground to see what had happened. Terence and Tinkerbell, on the other hand, were left alone in Tink's room.

'It's nice to see that even someone like her can still believe,' Tinkerbell giggled.

'Tink?' Terence murmured.

He had meant to say something, perhaps in reply or to change the subject. But when the tinker-talent fairy looked at him, he only smiled back at her.

By the time Alice reached the ground, she was out of breath and panting heavily. Nibs, who had already taken his blindfold off, came to her aid and let her sit at the base of the tree.

"What happened?" she asked between breaths. "I heard a crash."

"Cubby hit his head on the tree," Nibs said, stifling a laugh.

"I head my hit on the tree," Cubby repeated as he rubbed his forehead and walked dazedly away from the tree.

Moments later, Peter flew up from the trees and landed gently beside Alice. The twins emerged from the forest soon after with Tootles trailing behind them. Slightly, on the other hand, turned up from the other side of the tree base.

"That was so much fun!" Slightly laughed. "Thanks, Alice!"

"Thanks, mother!" the twins exclaimed in unison, each hugging the brown-haired girl from her waist.

Peter laughed along with the younger Boys. "Yeah, thanks, Alice."

"Hey, mother," Cubby called as he sat beside Slightly at the base of the tree, "tell us a story."

The other Boys echoed, "yeah, mother, tell us a story."

"Alice is a great storyteller, Boys," Peter bragged, sitting up straight and raising his chin proudly. "C'mon, Alice, tell them about Romeo and Juliet!"

She chuckled at the older boy's comment and thought for a moment. "I have a better story to tell you—about a princess locked up in a castle guarded by a dragon."

Alice took a deep breath, trying to recall the start of the story, and began telling the other children. "Once there was a king and queen who couldn't get a child even after many years of trying." She stifled a giggle after the word trying and recovered by clearing her throat. "But this story, in fact, starts with their eventual success in having a child. The entire kingdom rejoiced and celebrated the birth of King Stefan's daughter, Aurora. So at her christening, she was shown to the young Prince Phillip—who, by the way, is the hottest prince in Classical Disney—to whom she was betrothed."

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><p>'I'm sorry if I don't visit as often,' the green-clad pixie sighed apologetically to her friend. Tinkerbell sat on her bed where Terence rested.<p>

Terence shook his head and smiled at her reassuringly. 'It's fine, Tink. I know you've got a lot of work here, and you can't really—' He glanced out the window, down at the group of children huddled around Alice. '—leave this place. But Pixie Hollow isn't the same without you…'

Tink turned to look at him. 'Terence?'

The sparrow-man caught what he had just said and cleared his throat, pretending to cough simply to cover his slipup. 'I—I mean, well, the other fairies are a lot quieter—sort of—and the girls, they miss you, Tink. _We_ miss you. I miss you.'

'You're my best friend, Terence, and I—I miss you too,' she sighed, 'but Peter… he needs me.'

He smiled at her again—it was a sad smile but reassuring, as comforting as all his smiles. 'I understand…' Silence followed, but Terence broke it by suddenly laughing. 'Look at us,' he chuckled. 'I'm lying here after an accident and we're talking about—'

Tinkerbell laughed as well. 'Yeah.' Suddenly, she came up with an idea and her face lit up. 'Terence, since you're injured and all, why don't you stay here for a while?'

'But who's gonna deliver the dust throughout Pixie Hollow?'

'C'mon, you can't possibly be the only competent dust-talent in all of Pixie Hollow,' she joked. 'Besides, this way you can see how I'm doing out here. And Alice—' She paused. '—seems to get along with you.'

Terence raised his eyebrows at her. Normally, she would be green with envy when talking about any of Peter's girls. Or perhaps this one was not "Peter's girl." He didn't know, but he decided not to ask. He knew just how upset Tinkerbell could get when talking about Peter Pan, and how he himself envied the object of Tink's affection.

That evening, the sparrow-man decided to do as Tink had told him and see how she lived with Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. He couldn't sleep anyway, so he might as well explores his best friend's home to see if it was as safe and comfortable as Pixie Hollow.

He got out of the bed carefully so as not to wake Tink who had fallen asleep at the side of the bed. He couldn't help but smile when he saw her sleeping on her arms, and he took the blanket and wrapped it around the fairy.

Choosing to save his dust for his flight back to Pixie Hollow, he walked out of the room and explored the hallway. He passed by a doorway that echoed with loud snores and low whispers. When he poked his head in through the doorway, he saw that it was the Lost Boys' room. The loud snores were mainly from the large Boy in a bear cub suit, though the other Boys snored as well. The whispers, on the other hand, came from the little boy in a skunk suit. While awake he never spoke, but he apparently talked in his sleep.

Terence then moved on through the hallway with two doorways at the end. He was about to choose between the doorways when a voice called out to him.

"Who's there?" Alice asked from her bed. She wasn't sure if there was really somebody there, but she had heard tiny footsteps. Perhaps it was a rat—she hated rats.

'Alice?' the sparrow-man murmured, peering into the room. He saw the figure of the human girl sitting on her bed, her knees against her chest. 'Why are you still awake?'

"I think I should be the one to ask that," she retorted. "After all, _I'm_ not the one who got injured from delivering a music box."

'It was a huge music box,' he answered in defense. 'Huge for me, at least.'

Alice didn't reply and the silence took over. She stared at her feet and traced circles on her blanket. She felt Terence looking at her through the darkness and let out a sigh.

"I can't sleep," she said.

'Is there anything wrong?' He approached the bed and tried to climb the sheets.

When she saw the fairy struggling with the sheets, Alice pulled him up and put him beside her on the bed. "You can't fly?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

'I'm saving my pixie dust for the flight back home,' he explained.

"I didn't think you had a limited amount of dust," she murmured. "I thought you just _made_ dust. I mean, Tinkerbell always seems like she has all the dust in the world. Or like she can photosynthesize dust."

'That's because I give her extra dust all the time,' he winked. 'When she's not around, I sneak in here and leave more dust, but don't tell her that.'

"That's really sweet, Terence. I wish more guys were like you…"

'Is that why you can't sleep? Because of a boy?'

She laughed. "Well, not exactly. But you could say I'm using this time to think about a few…" She paused. "… things."

It was then that Terence said something that would change the mood of the entire conversation. 'Is it Peter?'

Alice nearly choked on her saliva and coughed and cleared her throat. "Wh—wha—Peter? Why? I mean, what gave you that idea?" she stammered. She didn't know if she was turning red because of the absurdity of the idea or from lack of air because she choked.

'Lucky guess?' the sparrow-man teased. 'You look at him differently.'

"I wouldn't say I was thinking of _just_ Peter," she mumbled, "but he definitely popped up somewhere there. Besides, I—I only look at him differently because… well, there aren't a lot of other boys here who are around my age. I'm a teenager; I have hormones."

'Do you like Peter?'

"He's really something. But I have a bad feeling about it… besides, he's Peter Pan—the boy who never grew up… and he never will." She lowered her head so that she and Terence were looking at each other eye to eye. "I don't want to meddle any further here in Neverland. I don't belong here, and I'm going to have to go home soon."

"Peter wants to make you stay, y'know," a voice suddenly said.

The two turned to the source of the voice at the doorway. Since it was dark, they couldn't see whom it was, but they could make out a pair of fox ears standing out in the darkness.

"Slightly?" Alice murmured.

"Tubby was snorin' so loud I couldn't sleep," he explained. "And when I saw someone outside our room, I followed 'im. Apparently, it was Tink's friend." **(A/N: Slightly refers to Cubby as Tubby because he's in a bad mood, thanks to Cubby's snoring.)**

"What do you mean Peter wants me to stay?" she asked.

The fox suit-clad Boy walked toward the bed. "Exactly that," he said. "When you tell him you wanna go home, he's gonna try to convince you to stay in Neverland. To tell ya the truth, I don't want you to go either, but…"

"I have to go," she answered with a smile, letting the Lost Boy sit beside her on the bed. She pulled his brown fox hood back and ran her hand through the Boy's messy blonde hair. "Do you wanna sleep here tonight?"

Slightly nodded and lay himself down on the bed. Alice let the Boy's head rest on her lap and she turned to Terence.

"So, what was Tinkerbell like before she met Peter and the Lost Boys?" she asked with a curious grin.

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><p><strong>That awkward moment when you realize you've been on the same line for over a week but you could have finished the chapter with the same line anyways. No, I'm pretty sure that's just me. I didn't notice it was already on 11 pages since it still felt so short to me. Full of dialogue. But meh~<br>**

**Anyway, I'm sorry again for putting Terence here and giving him and Tink the ability to speak (or giving Alice the ability to decipher what their tingling means). I guess I realized from the last chapter that Alice's best friend in Neverland doesn't have to be a girl (originally, it was going to be Tiger Lily, but I see her as a threat). It's going to have more consequences if Alice's best friend was Terence, so here he is.**

**I know I'm cutting back on the Peter x Alice action. I have to apologize for that. I promise I'll have some fluffy goodness soon.  
><strong>

**But please, review, my pretties~**

**~ froggy**


	7. Hook, Line and Sinker

**Edit (12/29/2011): Changed the summary.  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in the Peter Pan and Tinkerbell franchises. And again, I don't own the songs **_**The Second Star to the Right**_** (by Jonatha Brooke and covered by Jesse McCartney) and **_**Color Blind**_** (by Matt White). Also, I don't own the iPod Nano and Nintendo DS.**

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><p><strong>It feels like I haven't touched this fic in ages… but it's probably been, like, three weeks since I contributed anything to this. Not that long, I guess.<strong>

**The story so far: After waking up in the Piccaninny Tribe, Peter and Alice stumbled upon a sparrow-man (male fairy) named Terence. Terence was Tink's friend and was on his way to deliver something for the pixie to fix. While his injuries caused him to stay at the treehouse under Tink's care, Terence befriended Alice.**

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><p><strong>Redrum<strong>

**Summary:** Alice is a teenager with normal teenager problems, except that she's another one of Wendy's descendants who get whisked off by Peter Pan. Will he be able to make her forget about Matt? Peter x OC, present generation. Disney-verse. Expect love triangles.

**_Chapter 7  
><em>**

_Hook, Line and Sinker_

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><p>"Please, Terence," the brunette pleaded while gently stroking Slightly's messy blonde hair on her lap. "C'mon, while the others are asleep. Or would you rather rap in front of everybody?" she added with a knowing smirk.<p>

The sparrow-man shot her an incredulous look. She couldn't possibly be serious with this rapping thing, could she? He sounded downright ridiculous. 'I don't see why I have to do this…' he muttered in exasperation.

"Because I'm your friend and I begged you to do it," she mused.

Terence let out another sigh—probably his fiftieth since he entered her room earlier that night. This girl was not going to give up. She was more stubborn than Tinkerbell herself. He took a deep breath and Alice suddenly started beatboxing. He looked at her again but quickly shrugged it off (with another sigh).

'_Ready, here we go  
>Dream your way to the stars in the sky<br>You and me, me and you on our way to the top  
>Spread your wings, we can fly to the stars in the sky<br>To the left to the moon is the star on the right  
>And I can meet you, I can meet you, I can meet you<em>…'

The beatboxing suddenly stopped and Alice began squealing excitedly. Terence couldn't help but give another odd look when the girl flailed her arms in a vague attempt at calming herself.

'What?' he finally asked.

"Sorry, can't contain my excitement," she giggled. "You sound just like Jesse McCartney." **(A/N: Kill me. Just kill me now.)**

Terence, having never met this Jesse McCartney, didn't know how to respond. Instead he made an awkward sound accompanied by an equally awkward grin. 'I'll take that as a compliment, I guess.'

"Yeah, you'd better," she laughed. "Anyway, I was hoping I could talk to you about something…" She cleared her throat. "It's—I've been looking for someone to talk to about it, but…"

'Is it about Peter Pan?' he asked.

Her cheeks almost immediately reddened in response. "Wh—what? No, of—of course not," she stammered. "Wha—why would need to ta—talk about Peter? I mean, we're—yeah, we're friends and all, but—" Terence stared at her and her head sunk in acceptance. "—yeah."

'I've heard a lot about him from Tink,' he said. 'I mean, I can kind of see why you can't find anyone to talk to about him. I must be the first person you've met here who doesn't know him personally.' He offered her a smile.

Alice let out a sigh. "It's not just about Peter…" She glanced at him with a hopeless glimmer in her eyes. "I have—I _had_ a boyfriend back home in America…"

It took a few moments for the statement to sink in, but when it did Terence's eyes widened in surprise. He shifted in his seat and sat up to listen to her more intently. 'What happened? What's wrong?' His tone showed that he truly was concerned for his new friend.

"Well, before all this happened," she began, "I was on vacation with my mom at my grandma's house in London. And I was on the phone with my best friend, April, and she told me she saw my boyfriend Matt with another girl." She cleared her throat. "Matt's a bit older than me, so I guess I thought he'd be more mature than this…"

The blonde sparrow-man suddenly grabbed the blanket and held it out to her as high as he could without flying. It was only then that Alice noticed the tears rolling down her cheeks. She couldn't help but cry—that was probably the first time she had her heart broken.

Terence was about to open his mouth to comfort her, but she went on. "That same evening, Peter showed up in the nursery and took me here. I thought he was just some kid at first…." She stopped to hiccup and wiped her tears with the back of her hand. "But y'know, after a few days with him, he's… a sweet guy."

'Do you like him, then?'

"Is it really that obvious?" she mumbled.

He shook his head. 'I just know myself too well,' he chuckled. 'We're kind of in the same situation.'

"I dunno. Maybe I just think it's refreshing to see someone so young and vibrant. I mean, it's different from a lot of people my age back home." She groaned. "Wow. Talking about Peter makes me feel so old."

The two spent the rest of the evening talking about their problems—particularly, problems of the heart: Alice with Peter and Terence with Tinkerbell. It wasn't until past midnight when they noticed how late it was and decided to call it a day.

'Well, it's getting really late now,' the sparrow-man yawned. He stood up. 'I'd better get back to Tink's room. Gotta rest for the long flight back to Pixie Hollow tomorrow.'

"Okay," she replied. "Goodnight, Terence, and thanks for tonight."

'Yeah, thank you, Alice. Goodnight.'

With those last words, he disappeared into the night. Alice, on the other hand, carried Slightly who had been sleeping on her lap to the spot wherein she normally slept. She scooted over beside the boy and lay down herself. When she heard the Lost Boy murmur in his sleep, Alice gently tapped him on the shoulder until he quieted down. She was nearly asleep when he started humming. Then she began to dream.

The next morning was like a horrible hangover for Alice. She barely had enough sleep, though this was nothing in comparison to when she stayed up late on weeknights at home. The only difference was that she woke up to the sound of birds chirping instead of to an alarm clock. When she glanced beside her, she saw Slightly still sound asleep.

"Mornin'," a familiar voice suddenly said.

She jolted up and turned to the source of the voice. Then she saw Peter Pan in his usual green clothing, grinning at her as charmingly as he did the morning before. It was becoming a habit for him—and Alice didn't know whether she should dread it or love it.

"What are you doing here so early?" she coughed, trying to recover from the shock.

"A Lost Boy was missing when I called for them a while ago," he answered. "Nibs said Slightly wasn't in bed when he woke up."

"Maybe he got lost?" Alice tried with an awkward grin.

Peter raised a red eyebrow at her. "Wandered into your room?"

"He said he couldn't sleep last night," she mumbled. "Don't stare at me in my sleep. It's creepy."

"Aww, how'd you know I was looking at you?" he whined, pouting his lips.

"You did the same thing yesterday," she replied.

She was about to say something else when the boy beside her began to stir. Both Alice and Peter turned to Slightly who served as a wall between them. The Lost Boy rubbed his eyes with his fists and looked around the room.

"Where am I?" he mumbled groggily. When he caught sight of Peter, he sprung from the bed and saluted at the older boy. "Sir! Peter! I overslept!"

Peter saluted back and dismissed the Boy. As Slightly exited the room, Peter winked at Alice and flew out after him. The girl, remaining on the bed, blinked in confusion and slapped herself as though trying to camouflage the tint of pink on her cheeks.

It took her a few moments before she was able to recover. She grabbed her bag and rummaged through its contents. Surprisingly, she discovered her fifth generation iPod Nano and her Nintendo DS. Both were clearly out of juice, to her disappointment, so she stuffed them back into her bag and exited the room.

In her drowsiness, she nearly stepped on Terence in the hallway as he was still walking around. Her blue eyes widened and she jumped back, startled.

"Terence, what the hell?" she squealed in surprise. "Why are you still walking around? I thought you still had some pixie dust."

'I do,' the blonde sparrow-man explained, 'but I figured I want to get used to walking around here so I can drop by more often.'

The human girl suddenly lit up. "That reminds me… you get around a lot, right? Because of your deliveries and stuff."

He nodded.

"Well, do you know of some sort of power source here? For electronic gadgets and appliances and stuff? I mean, like batteries?"

He looked up at her in confusion and shook his head. 'Sorry, Alice, I don't really know what you're talking about. But if it's power you need—' He grabbed his little pouch of pixie dust. '—pixie dust can light up light bulbs from London.'

"Oh, but I can't," she told him with an assuring smile. "You need that to get home."

He paused and looked around suspiciously. Then he walked closer to the girl and motioned for her to lean down. Alice followed suit and leaned closer to him so they were face-to-face.

'Well, if I don't have any pixie dust to go home,' he whispered into her ear, 'then I can stay here longer, with Tinkerbell.'

She laughed out loud **(A/N: As in, literally lol-ing. XD)** and stood up again. "You sneaky little sparrow-man! But that's good, I guess. It's nice to see Tink lighten up, now that you're around."

Terence, who had been laughing along with her, stopped and stared up at the brunette. 'Really?' he asked in disbelief.

"She seems happier when you're around," Alice answered with a knowing smile. "Though she might not notice it herself," she added. "Anyway, so can I have just a teensy bit of pixie dust for my iPod and my DS?"

He nodded and held out his pouch to her. 'You can have all of it if you'd like. I have an emergency stash here in case Tink needs more and I run out. Don't tell her that though.'

"Of course I won't," she chuckled, reaching for the small pouch.

When she got the pouch, she took out her iPod and DS from her bag. Then she opened the leather pouch and sprinkled a bit of golden pixie dust on both gadgets. They quickly lit up, but she turned them off as soon as she could.

"Gotta save the power for later," she said with a wink before heading down the hallway to the main room.

There the Lost Boys were playing, save for Nibs who was apparently on kitchen duty. The Twins going in circles around Cubby, as though trying to stall and keep him away from the kitchen which must have been a daily challenge for them. Slightly, on the other hand, was sitting on the couch with his guitar. He was teaching Tootles how to play like how Alice had been teaching him the past few days. And their leader, Peter Pan, was floating around the room and playing his bamboo flute. When he caught sight of Alice, he crowed like a rooster and flew toward her.

"What have you got there, Alice?" the redhead asked with dark, curious eyes.

"These are my iPod and my DS," she explained. "I can't live without them," she added with a chuckle. "The iPod plays music and the DS has games I can play. I thought I'd share them with the Boys."

A mischievous grin formed on the boy's handsome face. "Show us how it works."

The girl walked over to the couch and sat beside Tootles. She picked the small boy up and sat him on her lap so she could sit beside Slightly.

"I know Slightly'll like this one." She took her iPod and began searching for songs. "Do you Boys know any popular songs?"

All of the children around her shook their heads. She sighed and turned back to her iPod.

"I guess I'll just pick a song at random."

She dragged her finger around the click wheel in one swift motion. As soon as she pressed the middle button of the iPod, it began playing a familiar song.

"_Ready, here we go  
>Dream your way to the stars in the sky<br>You and me, me and you on our way to the top  
>Spread your wings, we can fly to the stars in the sky<br>To the left to the moon is the star on the right  
>And I can meet you, I can meet you, I can meet you<em>…"

In the midst of the introductory rap, Alice began squealing and flailing her arms around, trying desperately to contain her excitement. She bit her lip and buried her face into Slightly's shoulder to hide her reddened cheeks.

The commotion caught the pixies' attention and Terence and Tinkerbell emerged from the latter's room. Terence recognized the song, having been "persuaded " the evening before to sing it to Alice, and his face fell.

"Uhh… Alice?" Slightly murmured under his breath. He was getting rather uncomfortable with her on his shoulder, though he would have preferred that she stayed there. A more accurate reason to call her attention was the fact that the only Lost Boy older than him was now fuming and floating away from the couch.

The girl sat up and, clearing her throat, paused the song. "I—I really like Jesse McCartney, okay?" she mumbled in a high-pitched squeak, her ears and cheeks still burning from embarrassment. She glanced at Terence who stood at the end of the hallway. "Right, Terence?" she added with a sheepish grin.

The sparrow-man, standing in front of Tinkerbell, mouthed an entire argument to Alice that she never mention the events of the previous evening—especially not in front of Tinkerbell. The girl caught on almost immediately and gave him an assuring smile. Upon seeing that, Terence turned to Tinkerbell and managed to convince her to return to the room.

"I—I'll just choose a different song," she said as she pressed the forward button.

It began with a drumbeat, followed by other instruments and the mellow voice of Matt White. The song that began playing was definitely not a Jesse McCartney song, but it incited similar thoughts in Alice's mind. Thankfully, this time she was able to contain herself.

"_Come to me,  
>Dry your eyes,<br>I know you're feeling lonely;  
>It's the perfect time.<em>"

Peter, who had turned away from Alice, perked up and glanced at the brunette sitting on the couch. Due to her fangirling over the previous song, Tootles moved over to Slightly who had set down his guitar earlier. Alice was now isolated from the Lost Boys on the couch.

"_Try to stay grounded,  
>You're never in line.<br>I'm leaving you tomorrow in the early light._"

As the song continued, Alice's gaze shifted across the room. When she caught sight of Peter, she instinctively looked away, though she soon found herself looking at him again.

"_I don't wanna lose this way again,  
>A second chance to make a stand.<br>We just failed too far behind,  
>I've always known you're colorblind.<em>"

Whenever Peter glanced back at her—which was quite frequent—Alice would look down and clear her throat or fiddle with her thumbs. Peter, on the other hand, would take the split-second of their gazes meeting as an invitation to come closer, and so he did. He landed on his two feet and walked toward the couch.

"_Let me try and change your mind,  
>I am colorblind.<br>Say goodbye, I would die,  
>I won't compromise.<br>Let me try and change your mind,  
>Are you colorblind?<em>"

Slightly took notice of the situation and scooted farther from Alice, dragging Tootles with him. When the young Lost Boy looked at him in confusion, he mumbled something about the acoustics being better if they were farther away from the iPod. Thankfully, he was right.

"_When you look at me that way,  
>Behind those eyes is what I crave.<em>"

Alice cleared her throat shifted in her seat when Peter sat beside her. She looked up, down, across the room—any direction that would let her avoid his gaze. He didn't seem to think anything of it and gently placed his hand on hers. The gesture caught her attention and she finally turned to him. He heard a sharp breath soften as she glanced at his dark eyes.

"_I feel no weakness, hear no lie.  
>I see your reflection in a stranger's eyes.<em>"

When she made no movement to remove her hand from under his, he grinned at her. Alice's cerulean eyes shifted across the room and, upon seeing that everybody else was preoccupied, she leaned her head against his shoulder. Though he was still a boy, his shoulders were surprisingly broad. Puberty had definitely kicked in.

Just as the song's chorus was about to repeat, Nibs entered coming from the dining room with a huge excited grin. He wore a stained apron that probably hadn't seen any soap since the last "mother" Peter brought to Neverland. The young Boy proudly declared that the table was set and breakfast was about to be served.

Alice sighed inwardly in relief as she pulled away from the green-clad boy and followed Cubby and the Twins to the dining room.

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><p>After breakfast, Alice decided to separate herself from the other inhabitants of the treehouse. She followed a robin to a clearing near the river and sat by the riverbank. She watched as the clear water flowed through the smooth rocks, as the wind blew through the trees and weeds by the river, and as the clouds rolled by in the perfect blue sky.<p>

As she took in the scenery, she heard faint footsteps approaching her area. Had it not been for the lush grass all around her, she wouldn't have noticed the person walking toward her.

"Well, if it isn't my new friend," Hook mused.

Alice stood up and faced him. "Hook," she hissed.

"Such a hostile tone," he taunted. "Little girls shouldn't speak like that to their elders."

"You shot at us!"

"I was letting Pan escape unscathed," he explained bluntly, rolling his hook for effect. "If I were really aiming for the both of you, I wouldn't have ordered my men to shoot in a straight line."

"O—oh? Uhh, well, I'm sorry then… I guess."

The pirate shook his head and took his flamboyant feather hat off. "Don't be, child," he said. "I've always been misunderstood by young Peter and his friends. And though you're quite a bright young thing, we can't all be perfect."

"Okay," she blinked. "So, are you here to talk about something?"

"I sense that Peter Pan seems to fancy someone." Hook was clearly just testing the waters, given the sly side-glance he gave Alice. When he noticed the girl intently listening, he continued with a grin. "You, perhaps, Alice."

"Do you think so?" she murmured unsurely.

"Has the boy been acting strange lately?" he asked.

Alice thought for a moment and seemed to find her feet suddenly very interesting as she stared at them. "Well, he seems to watch me in my sleep, which I admit is kinda creepy but still sweet. But, well, I don't exactly know him well enough to be sure…" When she remembered the boy's behavior that morning, she nearly choked on her own breath. "He—this—this morning, Peter… he winked at me. And the song was playing—and he was looking at me again, and don't get me wrong, he was really sweet and stuff to take it all slow like that, but still. He even held my hand. And honestly, it felt like such a perfect moment, I—I just… I mean, well, I leaned my head on his shoulder. I mean, God, whaddufuckwazzat?"

When the girl glanced at Hook, expecting a reaction, he only blinked at her in confusion but quickly regained composure and shrugged it off. "My dear child, I've no clue what you're saying."

She rolled her eyes. "The ramblings of a confused teenager, to sum it up in one sentence."

There was a long pause before the pirate decided to venture further. "I take it you fancy young Peter?"

Then he heard an odd choking sound from the girl beside him. Hook raised an eyebrow as he watched her break out into another long ramble, this one specifically about not liking Peter Pan. It was quite clear to him that she meant the opposite.

"… besides, if he were a lot more like Terence, I'd probably like him!" she huffed.

"Terence?"

"He's a friend I met recently," she explained. "He's sweet, and shy, and just so adorable! I almost feel jealous of the girl he likes."

"Then I suppose it's a good thing that you've not taken a fancy to Peter Pan," the mustached Captain Hook replied in a singsong manner. When she looked up at him in confusion, he knew she was caught in his trap. "Haven't you heard the rumors about him, my dear child?"

Alice shook her head.

"Alright then, I'll tell you." Hook looked around with shifty eyes, as though making sure that nobody would hear him. "Now I've only heard these from my crew—they say the mermaids talk about Peter sometimes, especially right after he visits them."

"What do they say about him?" she asked.

"Most of the time, they talk of how _dreamy_ he is." His tone was mocking and sarcastic, though what he said was true. "Sometimes, however, they end up fighting over him. Can't get enough of the lad's attention. After all, his attention is always split between the women of Neverland."

He waited for a response—a clarification, a correction or perhaps a sign of disagreement—from Alice, but she gave him none. So he continued.

"Even from before Wendy arrived in Neverland—when he brought her mother Mary here, Peter Pan had already captured the hearts of many. It doesn't matter if they were natives of Neverland. Why, look at Tinkerbell, for example. She left her own home and all of her friends to be with Peter Pan. All this time, she was under the impression that his first kiss or falling in love would make the boy grow up."

"Doesn't it?" she murmured in disbelief.

"Of course not; that's hogwash. Peter's already fallen in love with Wendy, has he not? And Jane as well. If your mother had ever gone to Neverland, she might have captured the boy's heart as well. I assume she looks very much like Jane, Wendy and Mary."

"Hold on, you mean—"

"Cap'n!" a familiar voice called from the bushes. Smee was searching for Hook, presumably to return to the ship. "Cap'n, we have to set sail before the Lost Boys find us!"

"I apologize, Alice, for I must cut our little conversation short," the Captain said. "And frankly, I am rarely one to gossip. Let's keep this between the two of us, shall we?"

When Alice nodded, Hook made a low bow and headed off. But after a moment's hesitation, she followed the pirate, asking to continue their conversation about Peter.

"I don't know much about Peter," she murmured. "And, well, I heard someone mention his first kiss. That—that isn't the reason why he's growing up?"

"Peter Pan's first kiss?" Smee repeated, emerging from the woods. "Pardon the intrusion, little miss." The first mate bowed curtly to the brunette and adjusted his tiny glasses. "I heard it was when he took Miss Wendy to Neverland."

Alice's blue eyes widened. "So his first kiss was with Wendy?"

"Au contraire," he chuckled. "The mermaids were talking about this very subject the other day. It seems he received his first kiss for saving Princess Tiger Lily after we captured her."

"So it's with Tiger Lily…" the girl murmured.

"He's quite the ladies' man, you know," Smee said with an airy laugh. "Every young girl in Neverland is head-over-heels over him, even those who managed to leave Neverland. Even fairies, in fact."

"I see… well, that's—that's—"

"What's the matter, Alice?" Hook asked, cleverly feigning cluelessness and concern.

A few moments of silence passed as the two men looked at Alice expectantly. "It's nothing, I just… thought better of him." She let out a deep sigh. "Boys are all the same. They see a girl they think is pretty and they get their charm on. And it's the same with every pretty girl they see."

"In my youth, that simply wouldn't do," Hook stated. "Young men had to court only one girl—and this was to marry."

"In my day, a man couldn't have just _any_ woman," his first mate added. "He had to work for her—_earn_ his happy ending."

"Well…" Alice mumbled, "I guess I'd better go. Y'know, gotta make lunch for the boys…"

"Nonsense," Smee grinned. "Why don't you have lunch with us? We don't get much company apart from each other, and it would do the crew good to show some manners to a lady. Those pirates are so rough sometimes…"

She looked at him reluctantly and smiled back, though unsurely. However, she felt that the plump old man was sincere and that even Hook wouldn't do anything to put her in harm's way, so she agreed to join them for lunch.

_Peter can go screw himself over with his harem of mermaids and pixies…_

"I tell you, Smee," Hook shouted at the dining table in his quarters. He had been telling stories of how Peter Pan and his Lost Boys would steal his treasure and hide it all over Neverland. "The boy has no use for gold and jewels, so why in blazes would he steal it day in and day out?"

"To troll you, of course," Alice replied bluntly. Her use of a meme caught the attention—and confusion—of the two men beside her. "To troll—to piss you off for shits and giggles. Pardon the language. But yeah, basically, it's to get you in a horrible mood because, well, it's funny."

Smee put a fist under his chin in a pensive gesture. "That _does_ make sense, Cap'n. Peter Pan's a young boy, so perhaps other people's misery makes him happy."

"Well, I've neither the time nor the patience to humor him in his schadenfreude," Captain Hook snapped in a casual tone, dabbing his lips with a napkin. He then stood and fixed his flamboyant pirate hat on his curly mop of hair. "I'm afraid I must pardon myself once more, dear Alice. Smee and I've some business to attend to."

The first mate stood as well and bowed to Alice before following his superior out onto the deck. The captain raised his eyebrows at Smee, as though signaling him for something, and the stout little pirate nodded and scurried off to another room on the ship.

Alice, on the other hand, occupied herself with the remaining droplets of water in her glass as she sat alone in the captain's quarters. She twirled the glass cup around and watched as the water followed the cups movements. Little did she know there was a dark shadow that loomed over her as her mind wandered to the mysterious Peter Pan and what women he might already have then.

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><p><strong>Oh dear God, what's this "dark shadow" business all about? Who knows? shrugs**

**Sorry for keeping you guys waiting! Been busy with school and all. I'm actually supposed to be busy right now (sleeping because it's currently 2 AM, or drawing because I have "homework").**

**I did say there'd be some fluff about here (well, I **_**think**_** I said that), so here it is. Unfortunately, it was ruined by some juicy gossip about our wonderful little Peter Pan. And naturally, this gossip is actually true.**

**Though I think it's odd for Hook to "gossip" about Peter, I can imagine him "stating facts and opinions" to manipulate a person's views about another. And that's pretty much what gossip is in all its naked glory.**

**I know I haven't used Alice's NDS yet. I will. Soon. If I remember.**

**I hope you enjoyed chapter 7 because I actually enjoyed writing this, even more than I thought I would. R&R!**

**~ froggy**


	8. James

**Disclaimer: I don't own Peter Pan and the characters associated with it. I do own Alice and James, however. But I have to admit; they were both inspired by characters I don't own. Naturally. Oh, and a few more things I don't own: the Nintendo DS, **_**Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days**_** (and all the characters related to it), **_**Anybody**_**, **_**Beautiful Soul**_**, and **_**Why Don't You Kiss Her?**_** all by Jesse McCartney, and **_**Color Blind**_** by Matt White.**

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><p><strong>I feel bad for this chapter because I know I'm going to enjoy it the most. Compared to all the previous chapters, at least. I'm also sorry for bombarding you guys with things I don't own (and about a billion JMac references). But then again, this is a fanfic, so…<strong>

**A side note for those who don't know much about Kingdom Hearts (actually, I'm not much of a fan, and I'm really frustrated cuz my emulator keeps lagging, so I can't play it): All you need to know about it is that Jesse McCartney voiced Roxas in the English dub of Kingdom Hearts. (And that Roxas looks a lot like Terence.)**

**I don't know anything about KH, so there probably won't be any spoilers. I hope…**

**The story so far: Alice and Terence spent most of the evening bonding. The next morning, Alice discovered that she brought her iPod and DS and recharged both so she could share them. After sharing a sweet moment with Peter, she was left confused about her own feelings for him. Coincidentally (perhaps?), she ran into Captain Hook who chatted with her about Peter. Apparently, Peter was something of a playboy around Neverland, and this changed Alice's view of him. She followed Hook to his ship for lunch, but was left alone in the captain's quarters with a mysterious presence about.**

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><p><strong>Logical Fallacy - <strong>When I started writing this, I knew there would barely be any reviews for this because, as you said, generally OC = Mary Sue. I dunno if it's hypocrisy or whatever because I think the same thing. But I'm afraid you might get disappointed with this chapter because Alice is kind of Suish here. Then again, she's actually quite Suish by my standards. I'll try litmus-testing her and if I have to change anything, well... at least you can expect character development. XD Thanks for the recommendation. I'll get to reading that when I have time.

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><p><strong>Redrum<strong>

**Summary:** Alice is a teenager with normal teenager problems, except that she's another one of Wendy's descendants who get whisked off by Peter Pan. Will he be able to make her forget about Matt? Peter x OC, present generation. Disney-verse. Expect love triangles.

**_Chapter 8  
><em>**

_James_

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><p>Alice jolted in surprise and nearly dropped her cup when the figure behind her cleared its throat. She cautiously turned to the source of the sound and felt relieved when she found it was only a boy.<p>

The boy was around the same age as her and Peter, though he might have been older by a year at least. He had an air about him that reminded her of Peter, but in a confusing way was also nothing like Peter. He was taller than Peter, but skinnier—lankier—as though not having as much to eat as any normal boy. His jet-black hair nearly covered his bright blue eyes (which was really a shame since they were quite a view). He wore the clothes of a cabin boy—a simple dirty white shirt and dark trousers—and his dark hair was tied in a messy ponytail at the nape of his neck.

It took a while for the entire image of the boy to register in Alice's mind that she could only gaze at him with her own blue eyes, mouth agape. She had to admit, at least in the back of her head—he was cute.

He broke the silence first, gesturing to the nearly empty dishes on the table. "Are you done with that?" His voice was already rather deep, and somewhat gruff, as compared to the Lost Boys and even Peter Pan. Unlike those boys who were still children, this boy was already a teenager.

"Yes, please." Alice leaned back to give him space to get the dishes.

A faint pink blush tinted her cheeks as the boy reached over to collect the dirty plates and cups. His shoulders were broader than Peter's and his arms, though thin and bony, had just enough muscle to make a girl swoon.

Shifting in her seat, she cleared her throat and looked up at him. "What's your name?"

He paused, as if in thought, before answering, "James."

"Are you Hook's son?" she asked, puzzled. She recalled that Hook's first name was James as well.

James raised his eyebrows incredulously and shook his head. "The hell? Of course not, I'm just their cabin boy."

"I see." Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you with Captain Hook? I'm sure Peter Pan would gladly accept you into the Lost Boys. Or… have you outgrown playing with younger kids?"

"It's not that." It seemed like a sigh, albeit a confusing one. "Smee found me, actually. And once you're one of the pirates, Pan would never take you in."

"Well, maybe you only think that because you've never tried," she suggested. "Just go up to him and ask him."

"Look, lady," he grunted, "I don't mean to be rude or whatever since you're the Cap'n's guest, but… it's better if you stop asking about this. Judging by your views of Peter Pan, you won't like what I'll tell you."

She was taken aback by his reply and decided to stop meddling. After all, they had just met, and she was in no position to ask about his life story. Instead she opted to help him with the dishes.

"Are you the only cabin boy?" she asked.

He was heading for the door by now, but he paused and glanced at her. "Now? Yeah."

"I'll help you," she said. "With the dishes, I mean."

"You're a guest," he stated bluntly, struggling to open the door. "Guests aren't s'posed to wash dishes."

Alice stood and went to the door as well. "You can't even open the door with all those dishes you're holding." She opened the door and smirked at him.

James only rolled his eyes and gave her a pair of glass cups to hold. "Fine, help me carry these."

Instead of going out to the deck, the boy turned to the left and led her to a set of creaky wooden stairs leading down to the kitchen. The kitchen was empty, however, as the cook had gone out to the deck. James went to the sink and set the dishes down, and Alice followed suit. They were alone.

"I take it you haven't been here long?" she asked as she grabbed the old sponge and soaped it. "The way you talk… you sound like someone from back home in—"

"America," he finished for her. "Yeah, Smee found me a few months ago… well, it would be months if time actually passed here. I was an orphan. Parents just died in a fire."

"I'm sorry," she gasped. "I—I didn't know…"

"It's fine," he mumbled. "Honestly, sometimes I wish I'd just gone with Peter Pan and gotten it all over with. Instead I chose to stay here, and Hook's kept me a secret from Pan and the Lost Boys ever since."

That was an odd thing to say, she thought. "Why?"

He paused again, eyes widening as if he said something he shouldn't have. "It's nothing. Shouldn't you be going back to your boyfriend? Peter might get lonely." He rolled his eyes again.

"He's _not_ my boyfriend," she snapped with her own roll of eyes. Alice set the dishes down on the counter and put all her attention to James. "I understand you all must hate him for—well, whatever Hook hates him for, but—"

He made a sound between a grunt and a growl. "I have my own reasons not to like him," he muttered. "But if you're so concerned about the rumors, why don't we consult the source themselves?"

"The source?" she repeated.

His answer was ominous, as though foreshadowing some important turn of events. "The mermaids."

She hesitated. "But the Lost Boys told me that the mermaids would drown anyone—except Peter, probably."

"They don't try to drown him because they like him," he explained. A smirk formed on his pale lips when the girl beside him raised her eyebrows in agreement. "I'm a guy, too, y'know. It's worth a shot."

"Fine, but…" she murmured reluctantly, "if it doesn't work, we make a run for it, ayt?"

He raised an eyebrow at her and scoffed. "Are you doubting my manly charm?"

"Why doubt something if it doesn't exist?" she retorted with a cheeky grin. Before James could reply, she changed the subject. "Anyway, would Hook allow you to leave the ship?"

"There's not much going on right now," he said. "I think it's ayt as long as I come back in one piece. And as long as I can still swab the deck." He set the dishes down beside the sink and headed for the door. "C'mon, I'll show you where the mermaids live."

* * *

><p>Mermaid Lagoon was a beautiful little area in the vast island of Neverland, where mermaids bathed and sang their hearts out. They rarely had visitors apart from Peter Pan, and in those rare times that they did, the visitors couldn't leave to tell the tale.<p>

Naturally, James and Alice couldn't just saunter in and chat with the scaled maidens; they had to be stealthy. The two teenagers hid in the bushes as they whispered their plan to each other.

"So how exactly are you going to charm those pretty ladies while hiding in a bush, Captain?" the brunette asked skeptically with a hand on her waist.

"The head-on method," he replied with a grin. "Apply directly to the forehead," he added.

Alice opened her mouth to retort, but her companion had already rushed out of the woods and into the lagoon. He had on his best smile and tried to speak in a charming, almost flirty tone. Though he clearly wasn't used to it, it seemed to be working.

"I take it this is Mermaid Lagoon," he said loud enough for the mermaids to hear.

A black-haired mermaid with matching black eyes turned to him and smiled. "Hi, handsome," she greeted. "Well, there are mermaids here, aren't there? That alone should be enough of an answer."

"Brains _and_ beauty," he exclaimed enthusiastically. "Well, since my little icebreaker wore off pretty fast, I'll get straight to the point with you ladies. I'm sure you've heard of Peter Pan."

"Oh, Peter!" a blonde mermaid squealed excitedly. "He's the dreamiest thing _ever_, isn't he?"

"Those mysterious, dark eyes," a redhead swooned and rolled over a protruding boulder in the water. "His soft red hair—"

"That smile!" a brown-haired one murmured. "Oh, his smile is definitely the best in existence."

The raven-haired mermaid joined her kin and swooned as well. "He visited us just the other day," she sighed dreamily. "He was _such_ a gentleman."

James only stood rooted to his spot, mouth agape at all the mermaids around him who almost seemed aroused by the mere mention of Peter Pan's name. He glanced back at the bush where Alice had been hiding and noticed it rustling. The brunette emerged from the leaves looking as if she would be the one to drown the mermaids instead of the other way around.

"That womanizing prick!" she shrieked.

She was clearly headed _away_ from the mermaids, but she still caught their attention. It was then that they began yelling and screaming incoherently and splashing her with water from the lagoon. However, the human girl was preoccupied with her thoughts and only managed to yell curses and swears after each splash.

"Hey—" James called out to her. He didn't wait for a reply. Instead, he grabbed the girl and carried her in his arms. Though she was soaked from the splashes, he also noticed that she was crying.

As he ran through the woods with the sobbing girl in his arms, she struggled to break free from his grip. It was a weak struggle, but he immediately let her go.

"Look, princess," he began, "I know Peter Pan's this dreamboat or whatever to you—"

"It's not that," she hiccupped through her sobs. "Matt… he—he—I can't believe he—I haven't… I promised myself I wouldn't cry over something so stupid!"

"If there's something I learned living in the streets before I was taken to Neverland," he sighed, stroking her honey-brown locks, "it's that it's okay to cry." He cleared his throat. "Now, c'mon, I have to take you back to the Lost Boys."

"But I thought they weren't supposed to know you…"

"I'll hide," he answered with a grin, offering his hand to her.

Surprisingly to James, Alice took his hand and let him lead her through the woods. When they reached the river, he let her take over the journey since he didn't know where Peter and the Lost Boys lived.

But as they neared the treehouse, James made his leave, not wanting to see Peter Pan face-to-face. Though Alice still didn't understand why her new friend wanted to avoid Peter at all costs, she made no attempt to keep him from leaving. Instead she continued to the treehouse, her sweater still soaked and her eyes still puffy from crying.

As she climbed the base of the tree, a pair of rabbit ears appeared on the wooden fence on the treehouse. Nibs poked his head out and gazed down at the girl.

"It's Alice!" he exclaimed upon seeing her. He turned around to call the other Boys. "Alice is back!"

He repeated this statement several times, his voice diminishing with each repetition. The other Lost Boys echoed it, the most distinctive being the Twins since they spoke at the same time. Soon they were climbing down the tree that held up the treehouse and flocking over Alice. First came Nibs and the Twins, and Cubby followed, giving Alice a huge bearhug. Slightly soon emerged, carrying Tootles on his shoulders. When Peter appeared and floated down to the crowd of children, Alice ignored him the best that she could.

"Where've ya been, Alice?" the Cubby asked.

"Yeah," one of the Twins nodded.

"You disappeared right after breakfast," the other Twin finished.

She smiled at all the commotion over her return and decided to distract herself with the Lost Boys rather than think of what had happened. She was able to cry, and that was enough for her. Now she had to enjoy with the Boys and ignore Peter so it wouldn't hurt. After all, he was just a reflection of Matt, it seemed.

"Do you guys know what a video game is?" she asked, her big blue eyes twinkling with excitement.

The younger children looked up at her and shook their heads.

"Games?" Nibs repeated. "Well, we know what games are, and games are fun!"

"Well, video games are games that are played with…" She paused. "… on a screen? I'm not really sure how to explain it to kids who don't even know what a TV is. Uhh, yeah, I'll just show you."

She gestured for them to follow her back up the treehouse. When they reached the main room, she showed them her DS. She wasn't able to bring all her game cards since she left most of them in her home in the States. Fortunately, she brought her favorite game, _Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days_.

"That doesn't look like a game," Cubby stated skeptically when he saw the DS. "It's just some ol' box."

Alice grinned. "You'll see."

The Lost Boys all gasped in amazement at the glowing screen when Alice turned the DS on. It was expected of them to be surprised, but her reaction became a bit of a shock to the Boys. Alice was quiet when the first cutscene played, but she suddenly started squealing in the next cutscene that followed—a conversation between Axel and Roxas.

"Oh my God, why is Roxas so cuuuute?" the brunette shrieked excitedly.

The Boys stared at her, visibly scarred from her deafening screech. The racket once again caused Terence and Tink to emerge from their room. Upon seeing the sparrow-man, Alice put down her DS and glanced at the two fairies.

"Terence," she called, "come look at this. It's a video game character voiced by Jesse McCartney!"

She returned to the DS and showed the cutscene to Terence.

'That's odd,' Tink murmured, floating just over Alice. 'The boy with blonde hair sounds exactly like you, Terence.'

"He even looks like him!" Slightly exclaimed before breaking into a high-pitched giggle.

Cubby, who sat beside the boy in a fox suit, scratched his chin as though in deep thought. "Maybe he's actually another Terence stuck in that box."

Terence stared at them all, mortified. He initially refused to look at Alice's game, considering what traumatizing activities she put him through the previous night. **(A/N: She made him rap, remember?)**

'There's only one me!' he scoffed. 'Maybe this is just a really big coincidence.'

Alice seemed too engrossed with playing to take part in the conversation. But after the first few seconds of silence, she paused the game and looked up. "I have this conspiracy theory that Terence is secretly Jesse McCartney," she declared. "He even raps like him." She stared at the blonde sparrow-man. "I'm right, aren't I? Admit it, Jesse!"

'What?' he replied in exasperation. He honestly had no idea what the girl was talking about.

Unfortunately for the dust-talent, nobody paid any attention to his disgruntlement as Alice continued her game. None of the children even noticed when Peter entered the room. Alice, however, caught a glimpse of him through her peripheral vision and paused the game. She turned to the Lost Boys and offered her DS.

"Who wants to try playing?" she asked in a noticeably miffed tone. "I'm pretty tired from my, uhh… walk earlier, so I'm gonna go take a nap or whatever."

Since Cubby was the closest to her, she handed it to the large Lost Boy.

"Just button-mash or whatever," she muttered. "Press the buttons. You'll get used to it eventually."

Without another word, she exited the scene and went off to her room. She went straight to her makeshift bed and took off her damp sweater. But instead of taking a nap as she had told the Lost Boys, she took her iPod out from her bag and began scrolling through the songs, looking for the one best suited for her current mood.

The Lost Boys paid no heed to their cranky mother, assuming that she really was just tired. But Terence was quick to notice that something was wrong. He excused himself from Tinkerbell, even stating that he was worried about Alice, and walked all the way to her room.

'Alice,' he called in a soft, gentle tone, 'are you okay?'

She glanced at him and shifted her eyes back to the iPod. "You noticed, huh?" she mumbled.

'Tink gets like that, too, sometimes,' he said as he made his way to the bed. He opened his mouth to say something, but he noticed his surroundings and his mouth hung open in shock. 'This room's a mess!' he exclaimed.

"Uhh…" She looked around her. "Thanks for noticing."

She watched as the little sparrow-man began walking around to tidy up the room. It was most amusing to watch him struggle with the sheets, but she decided to stand up and take over for him. She folded the sheets and looked expectantly at the brown-clad boy.

He noticed her gaze on him and continued the conversation. 'A—anyway, what's wrong?'

The girl sighed and ran a hand through her light brown hair in annoyance. "It's Peter…" she admitted. "Y'know, he treats me like I'm the most special girl he's met…"

'Yeah,' he nodded with a knowing smile, 'I've seen the way he looks at you.'

Alice paused, her azure eyes fixed on the sparrow-man's smile. When he smiled like that, he really looked like Jesse McCartney. He even made her hear J-Mac songs in her head. But she quickly snapped from her daze and cleared her throat.

"It's not that. When I went out, I heard some…" She paused again, this time to think of how to word her explanation. "Well, they weren't exactly rumors. Basically, I heard some people talk about him."

'And?'

"Apparently, he's a real ladies' man," she scoffed bitterly. "He supposedly 'falls in love' with every girl he brings to Neverland, and he flirts with the natives here too. It's so frustrating."

'Are you completely sure about that?'

"I heard the mermaids talk about him themselves," she whined. "They kept going on and on about how dreamy he is. God, if I asked them to, I bet they would even come up with a ten-page essay describing all his features and what they like about each. And someone even told me about Peter's first kiss. I mean, for someone who denies that he's going through puberty—for someone who _refuses_ to grow up and shit like that, he sure does a lot of grownup things!"

Then it was Terence's turn to pause. He thought about what to say and carefully worded his advice to her. 'Well, maybe this is something you should hear from him yourself,' he said. 'Maybe he doesn't mean to "flirt" with them, and the mermaids just happen to really like him.'

Alice looked at him unsurely.

'Talk to him about it.'

Terence stood up and walked back to the doorway. He took one last glance at the brunette sitting on the now-tidied bed and smiled reassuringly, before exiting the room.

As soon as the sparrow-man left, Alice turned back to her iPod and continued searching for songs. She soon settled on playing Jesse McCartney's _Anybody_, putting the iPod on its maximum volume so that it blared into her ears. Of course, she preferred it that way.

"_She left me hanging by a thread again;  
>I stood there waiting like a fool for her.<br>I never dreamed that I'd be in this place,  
>But here I am alone.<em>

_It's not the first time that she's walked away.  
>And changed all our plans within the blink of an eye.<br>And looking back it's always been the same,  
>But I refused to see it all for what it was.<em>

_Has anybody ever felt this way?  
>Has anybody ever been ripped apart?<br>Anybody gave everything to the one they love?_

_Am I the only one left behind?  
>Am I the only one who hates goodbyes?<br>God, I know this can't go on forever._"

A few seconds after the chorus ended, Peter appeared at the doorway. The green-clad boy grinned mischievously at her and tried to start a conversation.

"I though you said you were going to sleep," he laughed. "We can hear you from the living room, y'know."

She shot a glare at the redhead. "Oh, I'm sorry," she grumbled with constant rolls of her eyes. "Was I disturbing you, Peter?"

Thankfully, the boy noticed how she hissed her words at him—as though they were acid that would burn his skin upon contact. He cocked his head to the side and entered the room.

"Is something wrong, Alice?" he asked cluelessly.

"Nothing, nothing at all," she groaned sarcastically. "Whatever made you think that?"

He floated up and sat midair with his legs crossed. Then he looked at her and scratched the back of his head, perplexed with Alice's peculiar behavior. "Well, you just seem a bit irritated…"

She set her iPod on pause so there was a sudden silence, and she stood up. "You think?" she asked, her tone getting harsher by the second. "God no, I'm perfectly happy!" She pointed to a twisted grimace on her face that was made purposely to exaggerate a forced smile. "Can't you see how big my smile is?"

Peter was taken aback by her reaction and landed on the floor. Then he slowly approached the bed and gently put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Tell me what's wrong, Alice…" he murmured.

Alice jerked away from him. "Peter," she started, but she paused to breathe deeply in an attempt to cool herself down. "Peter," she repeated, more calmly this time, "is it true that you—"

She stopped again to consider how odd the question would sound. Instead she opted to explain to him. "I met the mermaids today, which kind of explains that," she started, pointing to her sweater. "Before they tried to drown me, they were talking about you. Th—they really seem to like you, Peter. And they wouldn't like you so much if you didn't lead them on or anything. I mean… Peter, you flirt with them."

He said nothing. Alice couldn't tell if Peter's lack of a reaction was because he was guilty or because he felt that flirting with the mermaids was a normal thing. Either way, it meant that he did flirt with the mermaids.

"And it's not just that," she went on. "I found out that you wouldn't grow up if someone kisses you. And how do I know? Well, it's only natural, because you've already gotten your first kiss."

The boy opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came.

"Not just that, I even found out who the lucky girl was. One would think it was Mary or Wendy or Jane—any one of the girls you brought to Neverland. But no, it's a local. Tiger Lily kissed you first, am I right, Peter?"

"Yes, but—" He grabbed her by the wrists. "I don't see how that would upset you, Alice."

"Of course it would upset me!" she grunted. "How would you feel if I went out and flirted with every guy in Neverland?"

His thick eyebrows scrunched up and he crossed his arms. "As if you don't already do that," he mumbled.

"I mean, I know I'm not in, like, any position to be jealous or whatever, but you're a _child_, Peter, and I'm supposed to—wait, what?" She nearly choked on her own breath in the middle of her rant when she noticed what Peter had said.

"You do go around and play with other boys more than you play with me," he said, turning away to hide the faint blush on his cheeks. "It's kind of annoying…"

"Peter, are you—are you trying to tell me you're jealous of the other boys?" she asked.

He turned to glance at her for a split-second. "Slightly, especially," he murmured. "Y—you're always with him and—an' you even let him sleep here last night."

Her face went pale when she heard that last part. "Y—you wanna sleep here?" she repeated. "Peter, that's—no, just no. A—and besides, I'm only with him a lot because we have similar interests. We both like music."

She was already feeling better, but something inside her told her that she shouldn't let him off so easily. She crossed her arms as well. "Besides, that—that's nothing like what you did," she stammered. "The mermaids even told me that you went to visit them just the other day."

"They're my friends," he explained. "Of course I have to visit them. But you, Alice—you're something else."

Her cerulean eyes widened and she felt the blood rushing to her face, but she was quick to turn away from him. She calmed herself down by fiddling with her iPod on its minimum volume. "Yeah, I'm your mother," she snapped, "and I have to make sure you don't lead any girls on with your…" She cleared her throat. "… boyish charm."

"Lead girls on?"

"Make them think you like them a certain way," she said. "It's really annoying, and girls really hate it. I mean, they may not show it, but deep down—ugh, hate it."

Peter's feet lifted from the floor and he floated to the direction Alice was facing. "So you're not mad at me anymore?" he beamed.

She raised an eyebrow at him skeptically and ruffled his red hair. "Fine," she sighed. "But really, you're jealous of Slightly?"

"Well, y—you're always with him," the redhead whined. "It's supposed to be like this—" Landing again on the floor, he took her hands and clasped them within his. "—you're the mother and I'm the father. So how come you're always with Slightly instead of me?"

Alice chuckled. She knew Peter was still just a boy, but she could see that he was growing up as well, even though he himself didn't notice. When she looked at him, she could see two different sides to him—the boy and the teenager.

She was about to say something, but she accidentally raised the volume on her iPod. Her eyes widened as the second verse of _Color Blind_ played between the two teenagers. The boy followed suit and stared at the pink iPod in the girl's hands, but his gaze shifted and he met her eyes.

"_When you look at me that way,  
>Behind those eyes is what I crave.<em>  
><em>I feel no weakness, hear no lie.<br>I see your reflection in a stranger's eyes._"

It was peculiar how Peter only snapped out of his daze when the verse ended. He let go of her hands and turned around, scratching his head awkwardly. It was even more peculiar that he felt awkward—Peter was never awkward.

"The song seems to like you," Alice joked with a weak chuckle. "Anyway, I did mean it when I said I was gonna take a nap…"

He turned to her again with an inward gasp. "Of course, yeah, I mean—" He cleared his throat and continued with a more composed voice. "Yeah, I'll go back to my room. I was just—Alice, I'm really sorry."

"It's okay," she smiled.

She continued gazing at the boy until he disappeared into the hallway. When she climbed back into her bed with her lips curved into a smile, she thought of Peter—the warmth of his hands when he held hers, the gentle way he would take her by the wrists—

"Oh dear God," she muttered to herself. "I have to go home and kill myself for this."

* * *

><p>Her eyes fluttered open and it was evening. She got out of bed and followed the closest source of light—a lone candle in the hallway. When she was close enough to the doorway, she turned her back to the candle and glanced at her rear in case she had a stain. Thankfully, her shorts were clean.<p>

Clean. That reminded her—how long had she been in Neverland? She hadn't changed her clothes since, though she was able to wash her shorts and panties on her first day. Regardless, she was in serious need of a proper bath with soap, shampoo and conditioner. Her hair felt disgusting.

But she could only take such a bath elsewhere—that is, back on Earth and not in Neverland. That reminded her as well—her flight back home with her mother was coming up soon. She had but two days to return to London and pack for her flight back to the States where she would resume her life as though this was all a dream. It probably was.

By the time she snapped form her thoughts, Alice had already made up her mind about leaving Neverland.

She exited her room and went to Peter's doorway. She peeked in first to see if he was inside, and sure enough, the red-haired boy was asleep on his own makeshift bed. His head rested on his crossed arms on a pillow and his green cap covered his eyes. But when Alice neared him, her shadow covered him and he woke up. Peter lifted his cap slightly so he could glance at her, and sat up when he recognized the figure before him.

"Peter," she murmured, "can I sit?"

He nodded. "Of course. What's up, Alice?" he asked as she sat beside him.

She was reluctant to tell him. After all, they had just made up from a fight. "I… I have to go home, Peter."

"What?" he asked incredulously. "You can't. Alice, you're our mother now. We need you!"

"I have to go back to my family, Peter," she said. "My flight to the States is in two days, and I have school, and I—Peter, I can't stay here."

"Why not?" he pouted, honestly confused.

"I love Neverland," she started, "but I don't belong her. I know you might not want me to, but I have to grow up, Peter."

But she found she couldn't continue when she saw the sadness in Peter's brown eyes. She stared at her feet for a moment before looking up at him again with a reassuring smile.

"Don't give me that face," she said, caressing his cheek with her hand. "How about this: I'll give you my home address so you can visit me in the States whenever you want. And if I can get away with it, I'll even go to Neverland on weekends."

Then the boy's face lit up and he stood there beaming at Alice. "I've never been to the States before," he stated with a huge enthusiastic grin. "I wanna see your home, Alice!"

Her smile became uneasy and she sighed, inwardly smacking herself for even suggesting that. "Well, if you can survive my brother, why not?" she muttered under her breath. "A—anyway, first we have to find someone who actually knows how to get in the country."

Peter nodded. "I only know London," he stated, putting his hand under his chin as he thought. "What about the fairies?"

"Fairies?" she repeated.

"Yeah, some fairies go to London a lot," he explained excitedly. "I don't know much about it, but maybe we can ask Tink! There's gotta be a fairy who's been to the States!"

He took her by the hand and led her to Tinkerbell's room. The blonde fairy was at her workplace with a tiny wrench, tinkering with the music box. Terence, on the other hand, was hollowed out tree trunk, tidying up his friend's bed.

Upon entering the scene, Alice couldn't help but quip, "You start to wonder why he's cleaning up her _bed_; Tink doesn't look like she's slept much in it…"

When the fairy noticed Peter enter the room, she immediately dropped what she was doing and flew up with an excited smile. 'What's up, Peter?' she asked, blinking her bright eyes repeatedly.

"Tink, do you know any fairies who go to the States?" the redhead asked. "Alice has to go back soon and I wanna be able to visit her."

"The United States of America, that is," Alice corrected. "Although that's just the beginning—there are 50 states, so we have to look for someone who's been at least close to where I live."

The green-clad pixie shook her head and flew toward the human teenagers. 'I haven't been to Pixie Hollow in a while, so there might be some new fairies,' she said. 'Maybe they have been there.' She glanced at Terence.

'Well, there have been a lot of new fairies since Tink left,' the sparrow-man said, 'and we dispatch fairies to different places every year. If we don't have anyone who can go there, we might have contact with fairies in other areas—with fairies who don't return to Neverland regularly.'

"Places?" Alice repeated. "Like what kind of places?"

'Like London, Worcester, Burgundy, Venice—'

"Those are all in Europe," she said. "Do you know any areas farther away?"

He looked up and thought. 'Well, there's Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok… and on the other side, there's New York, Los Angeles—'

"There!" she interrupted. "NYC and LA—they're both in the US. Hey, cool, they're all acronyms. Anyway, if we can find fairies who've been there, chances are, Peter and Tink can look for my neighborhood, right?"

"Don't forget candles," Peter reminded.

"Candles?"

"You have to put candles on your roof at night so I can see where your house is."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Seriously?"

The conversation was cut short when Tootles came running into the room with Slightly's guitar in hand, and the owner of said guitar chasing the little Lost Boy.

"Tootles, wait!" the older Lost Boy shouted before crashing into Peter.

As the two Boys recovered from their fall (with Peter giving Slightly a good, scolding glare), Tootles approached Alice. She assumed that he wanted her to teach him how to use it, but she was surprised when the little Boy began playing a tune on the guitar. Her eyes widened at the child's natural talent with the guitar—it was better than both hers and Slightly's combined. And oddly enough, Tootles was playing a song he'd never heard before.

"Hold up," she interrupted. "How does Tootles know how to play Beautiful Soul?"

"Wha?" everyone else in the room (excluding Tootles, of course) asked.

Alice approached Slightly, who was still getting mentally scolded by Peter, and wrapped her arms around his shoulder, pulling him into a hug. "Exactly. I've never played that song here before, but Tootles already knows how to play with it." She paused. "Or maybe it was playing on my iPod while I was asleep and Tootles is some kind of… Mozart or something."

"Uhh, Alice?" Slightly mumbled as the girl hugged him.

"Sorry," she muttered. "Slightly's just really cute when Peter's picking on him."

"I wasn't picking on him!" Peter whined.

Amid the conversation, Tootles began playing _Beautiful Soul_ again. Hearing the instrumental being played, Alice couldn't help but sing along to it.

"_I don't want another pretty face.  
>I don't want just anyone to hold.<br>I don't want my love to go to waste.  
>I want you and your beautiful soul.<em>"

Her voice trailed away when she noticed everyone staring at her. "What?" she asked. "It's Jesse McCartney's best song!"

It was then that she thought of another brilliant idea. A mischievous grin formed on her lips and she stared maniacally at Terence. "And have I mentioned that Terence sounds exactly like him?"

'Oh no,' he mumbled nervously. 'You're not—'

"Oh, I _am_," she smirked.

"_Am I crazy for wanting you?  
>Baby do you think you can want me to?<br>I don't wanna waste your time.  
>Do you see things the way I do?<br>I just wanna know that you feel it too.  
>There is nothing left to hide.<em>"

"C'mon, it's such a nice song," she pleaded with her big blue eyes. "Sing it as a goodbye song for me or something. If not for me, then for Tink. Pleeeaaaase?"

'But—but—'

"Tomorrow evening, then?" she giggled. "Before I leave." She turned to Slightly and handed him her iPod. "Teach him how to sing it. I want it to be a surprise for myself—sort of. Anyway, plus points, you get to use my iPod."

Before Terence could object—although he already tried twice—Alice grabbed Tootles and the guitar and ran out of the room. Peter, seeing as the conversation involving him was already over, waved goodbye to two fairies and made his exit as well. Then he heard the guitar being played outside and followed the sound to Alice and Tootles. The two were outside, both seated on the wooden floor and leaning on the railings.

"Y'know," she began, not sensing Peter's presence, "I've always wanted to learn how to play the piano. Captain Hook has one, and I think he can teach me. But Peter would never let me."

"You'd let that codfish teach you to play the piano?" he asked as he approached the two.

Alice looked up at him and nodded sheepishly. "He was going to teach me that time he kidnapped me," she said. "I only know how to play one song and, well, it's a song I'd rather not hear—ever." She sighed. "I don't even know Für Elise."

"I don't know how to play the piano," he replied as he sat down beside her, "but if you want, I can take Hook's piano here so you can learn."

She shook her head. "Hook and I are friends. Sort of. Peter, I know you hate him and he hates you, but… well, I guess he just wants someone to talk to. Someone… grown up."

"But you're not grown up."

"I'm a teenager," she corrected, "and according to my teachers back home, I'm 'wise beyond my years' at times. I guess that kind of counts as being grown up." She giggled and pinched his cheek. "Well, I'm certainly more grown up than you."

It was curious how Tootles somehow felt that he should leave, and so he disappeared through the window above him. Peter and Alice didn't seem to notice the Boy leave though as they were preoccupied with each other.

Alice released her grip on Peter's cheek and caressed it instead. She turned so that she was looking straight into his eyes and saw the stars twinkling in the boy's dark eyes.

Peter didn't move. There was something about Alice's azure eyes—her eyes that twinkled like sapphires—that unsettled him, but in a good way. Her eyes drew him closer and made him want to close the gap between them.

They were only an inch away, when they both heard Alice's iPod play another Jesse McCartney song at its maximum volume. They both froze.

"_Why don't you kiss her?  
>Why don't you tell her?<br>Why don't you let her see the feelings that you hide?  
>'Cause she'll never know<br>If you'll never show  
>the way you feel inside.<em>"

Before the last line ended, the volume suddenly decreased, indicating that Slightly was able to find out how to lower the volume.

The sudden outburst left their hearts racing, though it must have left everyone's hearts racing. Alice fell back, her elbow supporting her against the railings. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. It proved ineffective as she then tried to speak to decrease the tension.

"Well," she gasped, "it's amazing how Slightly managed to find some—" She cleared her throat. "—background music for us."

She looked up at Peter who towered over her since she fell back. He leaned closer to her, grabbing her hand.

"P—Peter?" she stammered as blood rushed to her cheeks. "P—"

His lips touched hers. She grabbed a railing and pulled herself up, returning the kiss. Their hearts raced, skipped beats, and did whatever hearts do when two teenagers were together.

Alice nearly murdered her subconscious when it reminded her that this was Peter Pan. She leaned back, attempting to break the kiss, but her head was already leaning on the railing.

It was a few more moments before Peter broke the kiss, his ears and cheeks burning redder than his hair. He looked at Alice who stared up at him shyly, her own cheeks redder than Peter's. She noticed him leaning in for another kiss and pushed him back gently.

"Peter, we can't," she murmured.

"Why not?" he asked, still trying to get closer to her.

"Peter, I'm leaving tomorrow. And you're Peter Pan." She held him by the wrist. "Do you even know what a kiss is?"

He shook his head. "What does a kiss have anything to do with—"

"_That_ was a kiss, Peter!" she shouted.

He stared at her in shock, his mouth agape. He really didn't know what he was doing? If the boy's reaction was anything to go by, it was clear that he was new to love. At least, to expressing it.

But it didn't matter. As much as she liked Peter—as a friend, of course—Alice couldn't fall for him. He was the boy who never grew up. She was a teenager in a hurry to grow up. Not to mention, she didn't want him to be her rebound after Matt. After all, even just thinking of Matt's name made her heart sink.

She glanced at Peter who still said nothing. He was either in deep thought or having a BSOD. His dark eyes were blank, staring into space, and he didn't move a muscle.

Alice cleared her throat and stood up. Her face still felt hot. She felt horrible. Thank God she was going home the next evening. She had grown to love Neverland and its inhabitants, and she even found friends in Captain Hook and his crew (in Smee and James, at least). She stole one last glimpse of Peter before going inside.

* * *

><p><strong>Peter, what have you done? D:<strong>

**I still feel horrible for writing this chapter, not because I introduced James (which was the initial reason why I felt bad writing this), but because put in so many songs. That was probably a major reason why I went past my page quota for this chapter. Although I guess that's a good thing.**

**I swear, this fanfic is the reason why I started listening to Jesse McCartney. So consequently, this fanfic is also the reason why I started watching Young Justice (which is awesome, by the way) and playing Kingdom Hearts (358/2 Days, at least).**

**Merry Christmas and R&R, everyone!**

**~ froggy**


	9. Home

**Disclaimer: I don't own Peter Pan, but I do own Alice and her family (except Jane and Moira). I also don't own Twilight and Edward Cullen (if I did, I would've killed myself because eww).**

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><p><strong>I honestly wanted my chapters to progressively increase in page count, but Chapter 8 was 17 pages long, so I might have to make this chapter shorter. It's only supposed to be a filler chapter, so it shouldn't go past 10 pages. But we'll see. (Hehe, it's 12 pages...)<br>**

**The story so far: While on Hook's ship, Alice met his cabin boy, James, who seemed to want to keep his existence a secret from Peter and the Lost Boys. Like Alice, he was a teenager from present times before Smee took him in, and the two teens became instant friends. He helped her uncover the truth about Peter's flirting habits, and she ran off in frustration. Following her arrival at the treehouse, Alice caused drama between her and Peter but they were able to make up. That evening, she told him that she needed to go home, but they found a way to keep in contact with each other. They also shared their first kiss (with each other), but realizing that left both of them in deep thought and BSOD-ing.**

**Something I hate about long chapters: writing the recap on the next chapter. But I hate leaving a fic and coming back to it not remembering what happened the previous chapter and having to read it all over again, so yeah.**

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><p><strong>Imou - <strong>I'm glad you like it. Actually, I'm also a reader who avoids anyone x OC, but I don't really read much anymore, so... yeah. XD

**Bianca.101 - **Thank you! It's okay, I didn't like James when I first made him, too. ^^; But you're right; something is definitely strange about him. :D I was actually thinking the kiss might have come too soon, but then... well, he's Peter Pan. He can do whatever he wants to, amirite?

**Megan - **Thank you so much! You have no idea how much I appreciate that review. And sorry to keep you waiting. Even I'm really surprised at how late I updated this. I think it's my sense of time.

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><p><strong>Redrum<strong>

**Summary:** Alice is a teenager with normal teenager problems, except that she's another one of Wendy's descendants who get whisked off by Peter Pan. Will he be able to make her forget about Matt? Peter x OC, present generation. Disney-verse. Expect love triangles.

**_Chapter 9  
><em>**

_Home_

* * *

><p>Dinner was unusually quiet that evening. Normally, Peter would be standing on the table or flying around while telling an exciting story to the Lost Boys. Instead, he quickly finished eating and retreated to his room.<p>

Alice, on the other hand, was on kitchen duty with Slightly. After a food fight that had somehow manifested itself upon Peter's disappearance, the other Lost Boys were left to cleaning the dining room, though the task required a lot of strain on Alice's voice box. Thankfully, she was good at disciplining the Boys. This left even more peace and quiet inside the treehouse—enough quiet to spark up a conversation between the two children who were drying dishes at the sink.

"Golly, Peter sure was quiet at dinner," Slightly started.

Alice kept her focus on the dishes. "I guess so," she shrugged. "Everyone was quiet at dinner."

"Normally, we'd have a story at dinner," he nodded. "Tonight is slightly different." When he received no reply, he tried the direct approach. "What happened between you and Peter?"

She put down the dish she was wiping and looked at him with an assuring smile. "Nothing, Slightly," she said, pinching the Boy's cheeks. "Don't worry yourself over us, okay?"

Before Slightly could say another word, Alice left. She passed by Tink's room to borrow her iPod from Terence, and went outside the first chance she got. She had no intention of wandering from the treehouse, but she did go to the river. Perhaps the calm water would take her mind off of things.

At the river, she found a familiar mop of black, messy hair. A smirk formed on her face as she approached the figure, which held a long stick with a string thread at the end.

"Good evening," she said, nearly startling the boy.

"God, Alice," he gasped, "you almost scared the bajeezus out of me!"

"Almost?" she repeated with a pout before sitting beside him, chuckling. "Catching dinner?"

He shrugged. "Crew ran out, but everyone got their share except me."

"Lucky you," she laughed. "You get to spend some quality time with me."

"Yeah, awesome." The sarcasm was obvious in his tone. "I can't catch _anything_ here," he groaned.

"Maybe the fish are asleep?" she offered. "I don't know shit about fish, so yeah. But I can bring you some leftovers from the treehouse if you want."

James shook his head. "Uh-uh. No can do, princess. They're gonna ask what that's for."

"They won't," she assured him. "Those kids are always just playing games. They wouldn't even notice me if I went out there and streaked."

"I'd notice you," he said, earning him a shove into the river.

Alice laughed. "I'll get a towel, too." And she left.

She soon arrived at the treehouse and took two sets of cloth from her room. Then she went to the pantry and grabbed some snacks, as there were no leftovers that evening. But as she left, she failed to notice that Terence was at the hallway, preparing to leave for Pixie Hollow.

Tinkerbell wrapped her arms around her sparrow-man friend whose cheeks glowed red as she did. 'Be careful on your way back, okay, Terence?' she said. 'The music box is a bit more complicated than the last one, but I'll get it up and running in no time.'

He smiled sweetly at her, clearly mesmerized by her twinkling bright eyes. 'I'll come to pick them up in a few days,' he replied. 'I'll bring extra pixie dust too.'

When he turned around, he saw Alice run out to the porch and disappear down the trunk of the tree. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and went out to the porch as well. The girl disappeared into the forest and he decided to follow her. He reached into his leather pouch and sprinkled himself with a handful of pixie dust. Then he began glowing gold with the golden sparkling around him, and he followed Alice through the woods.

It was only until Alice reached James that she noticed Terence following her. She was in a hurry so she didn't notice the sparrow-man, even though he glowed brightly in the shade of the trees. In fact, it was James who pointed out that a strangely large firefly was following her.

"Or Edward Cullen," he added as he dried his black hair with the cloth Alice brought him. "It glows and sparkles, so either works, I guess," he shrugged.

Alice turned around and immediately recognized the unidentified floating object behind her. "Terence!" she called. "You followed me all the way out here?"

'I heard you yelling earlier,' the blonde explained, 'so I thought maybe you and Peter had a fight again. You might need someone to talk to, but I guess—' He glanced at James. '—you've already got that covered.'

"This is James," she said. "James, this is Terence."

"You're friends with a fairy?" the other teenager asked, with an eyebrow raised at the glowing sparrow-man.

'I'm not a fairy,' Terence corrected. 'I'm a sparrow-man, and it's nice to meet you.'

"Whoa, he sounds like Jesse McCartney!"

Alice laughed. "Take a closer look—he doesn't just sound like him."

"Holy fuck!" James exclaimed. "It's a tiny vampire Jesse McCartney!"

'Vampire?' he repeated, confused.

"Because you're sparkling," Alice said. "It's a long story—sort of."

"And trust me, it isn't worth your money," the other teenager added. "Don't ever read Twilight. Kill it. Kill it with fire."

"I'm starting to wonder if you ever actually read it."

James shook his head. "There were Twi-tards at my school back then. Creepy fucks." He chuckled. "A—anyway, Sparkles said you were yelling a while ago?"

Alice glanced at Terence and gave him a scolding look. She sighed and wrapped her arms around her legs, her head resting on her knees. "He's Peter Pan," she mumbled. "I can't… I don't have the right to like him."

'What do you mean, Alice?' Terence asked, landing beside her and gathering the pixie dust that covered him. 'You can like anyone, as long as you like them. For example, I like…' His voice trailed off as he gazed at the treehouse in the distance.

"It's different in the real world, Terence," she said, turning to look at James. "James, you understand, right?"

The boy only shrugged. "Girls are the only mystery greater than life itself."

'Well, you sure got that right…'

Alice looked at her two companions. They were both male—of course they wouldn't understand what she was thinking. She groaned inwardly and decided to just tell them.

"Peter kissed me."

"He WHAT?" James yelled, getting on his two feet. "You want me to beat him up or something?"

She stood up as well and flailed her arms defensively in front of her black-haired friend. "N—no, it's not like that! It's—Peter's just a kid!" she blurted out.

James raised an eyebrow. "And who's to say you're not a kid either?" he retorted. "He's technically and biologically older than you—"

"He had no idea what he was doing!" she explained. "I asked him if he knew what a kiss was, and he said no, so I told him that—that—what he did was a kiss."

'And how did he take it?' Terence asked calmly.

"BSOD," she answered lamely. Then she grunted and crossed her arms in frustration. "This isn't supposed to be happening! I'm supposed to go home tomorrow, and everything will be fine, and I'll come back next weekend, and _nothing will be awkward_!"

She turned to James and leaned her head on his chest. Though his clothes were still wet, he followed her lead and wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug.

"Hey, nothing's gonna be awkward," he consoled. "Is that really what you're afraid of?"

"I have a boyfriend back home…" she mumbled. "Ugh, but that douche cheated on me with some blonde ditz—" She touched her dark hair. "Because _I'm_ not pretty enough—_I'm_ not stupid enough—_I_ don't have big enough boobs—yeah, well, fuck him! In case he hasn't noticed, he isn't exactly the hottest hunk of flesh either!"

'So it's about her boyfriend?' Terence whispered near James' ear.

James gave the sparrow-man an unsure look but nodded. "Told ya—women are crazy," he said, earning him a punch in the gut. "Wa—wait a minute," he grumbled with a hand on his stomach. "Hold up. You're going _home_?"

Alice nodded. "But I'm leaving my address so Peter can visit me any time," she explained, "and I told him if I'm free on weekends, I can visit you guys here too."

She noticed the other teenager grow pale and gulp nervously. "Y—you didn't tell him, did you?" he stuttered. "About me?"

"Peter?" she asked. "Of course not. But I still don't see why you don't want to meet him. He's a good kid, y'know."

"I'm sure he is," he grinned, "but I don't think he'll like it if he found out you have another guy friend."

"I guess not," she mumbled. "Hey, James, do you wanna come home with me?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Whut?"

She scrunched her eyebrows and answered unsurely, "I mean, well, maybe you miss the States and stuff…"

James reached out and ruffled the girl's brown hair, a reassuring smile forming on his pale lips. "It isn't that easy, kid," he chuckled softly. "I don't have a family to come home to."

Her eyes widened and she looked down in a mixture of shame and guilt. "I—I'm sorry," she stuttered, "oh God, I'm so sorry." She leaned over to him and wrapped her arms around him. "I know I'm not supposed to start hugging guy friends on the same day I meet them—" She hiccupped. "—but I've been here for so long without anyone to relate to and here I am making you feel bad about your entire life!"

Alice sobbed into the boy's shoulder for a few more moments before letting go and wiping her tears. James just froze—after all his time in a ship full of pirates, he forgot how physical contact felt. And how much it made his ears burn red.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I'll just—I'll bring my laptop here next weekend so we can watch movies and sitcoms and everything you'd miss."

He grinned at her and took a side-glance at Terence. "Let's make Prettyboy here watch Twilight, too."

She gave him a look and giggled. "Why, do you hate him or something?"

He shrugged. "Not really, there's just—"

"Something about Terence that makes me wanna torture him indefinitely," she finished for him with a maniacal grin.

Though he had no clue what the two teenagers were talking about, Terence was rightfully scared out of his wits. He needed a distraction or at least an excuse to leave.

'U—uhh, well, I'd—I'd love to stay and chat,' the sparrow-man stammered, 'but it's a long way back to Pixie Hollow a—and I'm on dust duty again tomorrow morning, so—g'bye!'

It was something of a disappointment that they weren't able to continue their chat with Terence, but the absence of the blonde dustkeeper made Alice more serious. Maybe she needed the comfortable atmosphere to make her open up—to make her focus on the growing tension between her and Peter, and even on the pain that wouldn't fade away.

"I _do_ like Peter…" she murmured, hugging her knees as she sat beside James. "Really, I do."

"But?" He knew it was coming, so he said it anyway.

"But—" She closed her eyes and buried her face into her knees with a defeated sigh. "—I don't want to get into something while I'm on the rebound. I still technically haven't broken up with Matt…"

James was speechless. He didn't know what to say to comfort her, to make her feel better. Instead he put a hand gently on the girl's shoulder and tried to just say whatever was on his mind.

"It doesn't have to be like that," he said, attempting to muster a smile. "I mean, like you said, the guy cheated on you. This—this doesn't even count as cheating. You're mentally broken up with him, aren't you?"

She nodded, face still sunk into her knees. "I was going to break up with him as soon as I got home."

"Then it's okay to like someone else. And it's not like you like Peter because he reminds you of that Matt guy, or whatever he's not," he continued. "You barely even thought of him in your entire stay here. I mean, well, it didn't seem like that, since you never mentioned him to me. At least, not in detail. Wait, sorry, I'm rambling."

The boy shook his head, as though trying to shake off his rambling. "Anyway, like I said, it's fine. You like Peter. It's not because you're on the rebound. You just like him. That's the only thing that matters. Sure, you're going home, but you're going to see him again, right?"

"But it'll be awkward," she whined.

"Talk to him," was his response. "Say what's on your mind. It'll work out."

She glanced at him and smiled, before standing up and looking up at the sky. "I guess I should…" she mumbled. "But he—I shouldn't… uhh, I'm not making sense. Ma—maybe I should just sleep this off…"

"You should." He stood up and grinned at her. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

When Alice turned around to walk back to the treehouse, James crouched down. He stared at the river, at his reflection in the water. He couldn't believe himself—he was giving advice to Alice. Advice about Peter Pan and relationships, no less. If Hook had been watching, which he probably was, he would've had James walk the plank.

But he wouldn't lie when he got back to the ship. He did once, and look where that led him. He shook his head. He wouldn't lie. He never would.

What the hell was he doing there, talking to himself by the river? James shook his head. Was he going crazy? After so long living in a ship full of old pirates and hiding from Peter Pan, he was bound to end up like that. But there was no point in rambling to himself. Instead he grabbed his fishing pole and headed back to the ship.

* * *

><p>"Where've ya been, Alice?" That was always the first thing she heard as soon as she got back to the treehouse, especially after meeting James. It was natural, of course, for the young boys to wonder where she disappears off to. This time, it was the Twins who caught her upon her return.<p>

"Just, y'know, taking a walk," she shrugged with a smile. "It's pretty late though. Why are you two still up?"

"Peter's been awfully quiet," one of them said.

"So Slightly had us all meet up to figure out what's wrong with 'im," the other one finished.

Alice couldn't find it in her to respond right away. She had to think about her situation and to word her reaction carefully. "Uhh, well, would you happen to know if Peter's still awake?" she asked as casually as she could. "Maybe I can talk some sense into him."

The Twins glanced at each other and had some kind of telepathic conversation with their eyes for a split-second before turning back to their mother. "Well, his room's still lit up, so…"

She nodded and headed off to the hallway that linked hers and Peter's rooms. Peter's peculiar attitude was so new to the boys that she wasn't even surprised to see Slightly standing outside in the hallway and spying at their leader. He noticed Alice approaching, so he quickly turned around and dragged her into her room.

"Are you here to talk to Peter, Alice?" he asked in a whisper. "Oh, please fix him Alice. He's been so quiet, and he's been pacing back and forth in his room since you disappeared again."

She nodded again, and Slightly released her. Though she felt so confident while assuring the Lost Boys that she would speak to their leader, she had no idea how to go about it. She didn't know what to say to him, despite James' advice. She was even worried that her voice would become a squeak out of her nervousness. But she had to press on.

Alice pulled back the curtain at Peter's doorway and peered inside the room. As Slightly had said, Peter Pan was pacing back and forth in his room, a hand under his chin and his eyebrows scrunched in perplexity. She took a deep breath and cleared her throat to catch the boy's attention.

"Peter?" she murmured.

He nearly fell in surprise. Thankfully, he was quick to recover by flying and sitting midair. "A—Alice," he grinned.

"Can we talk?" both asked in unison.

It seemed such a familiar scene to Peter. Alice had those same eyes, that same voice… His oddly shaped eyebrows rose; the girl in front of him had to stifle a laugh, perhaps to the growing tension between them.

He didn't understand if he "hadn't meant to kiss her" because he knew he enjoyed it—and longed for it again—but if that short moment of bliss meant having to sacrifice the comfortable feeling he got whenever they were alone together, he would much rather ignore that it ever happened.

"A—about last night, I—" Even their stuttering seemed uniform. Hearts were pounding, fingers trembling, breath uneven, eyes avoiding the other's own.

He had experienced this scene before, years ago with Jane. Of course, being Peter Pan, he would be the first to actually speak.

"W—we can just forget it ever happened," he blurted out.

He saw the surprise in her eyes, the surprise he had almost expected when he decided this just moments ago. What he did not expect, however, was a sudden movement—a very small movement that one would surely miss in the blink of an eye. But he could barely look away from her, so of course he noticed her flinch.

Alice would have trembled in fear, writhed in pain, maybe even slap Peter for suddenly saying something like that. Maybe she was the only one who felt that way about the other. Maybe she was just imagining all these "signs" that the Boy Who Never Grew Up could possibly like someone like her.

She shook out such thoughts. It didn't matter now. She was going home soon, and she at least wanted to leave Neverland as a friend of Peter Pan, not some girl he gets all these awkward silences with. She forced herself to look at him—not stare into his beautiful dark eyes, but just stare at him. Blankly. And he avoided her gaze.

"Of course." She had to stop her tears. No, she won't cry in front of Peter Pan. Never again. "A—anyway, if that's all—" She paused to sigh, rather than waiting for her to hiccup and burst into tears. "I'm pretty tired," she forced a grin, "I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Peter."

He glanced at her and murmured an inaudible goodnight as well. Peter was confused. The butterflies in his stomach wouldn't stop. The mild headache throbbed in synchronization with his heartbeat. Heartbeat? His heart _hammered_ in his chest. What was happening to him?

Peter was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he hardly even noticed that Alice did not actually go back to her room. Instead she sat on the floor in the hallway, leaning her head on the wall. She was out of his sight, though she sat just beside the doorway.

Why would she go back to her room? She couldn't sleep anyway. Might as well spend the time to think. She wanted someone to talk to, but who would be awake at that hour. Though she knew the Lost Boys would give anything to stay up late, she also knew that they were still children and grew tired quite easily when the sun was down.

* * *

><p>"Where've you been, cabin boy?" a large pirate asked as James climbed aboard the small ship. He leered at the young boy with one eye for his other was covered with an eye patch and probably nothing but a socket from his experiences of battle with Pan and his Boys.<p>

James kept a straight face as he walked across the deck, despite the complaints and glares of the pirates around him. He was the only one who had to leave the ship for his own dinner, and though that resulted in running into Alice and meeting some bizarre fairy thing, he was still mighty pissed with Hook's crew. In fact, if they hadn't taken his portion of dinner from him, he wouldn't have had to fish on his own. But he did and now he had to report to Hook everything that happened.

He sneered in his mind. These people were all crazy. Or maybe he was the crazy one. He didn't care anymore. He just wanted to go back to his old life, even though he knew he never could. Not alone.

Upon sensing the boy's presence, Hook stood from his piano and greeted him with open arms. Smee followed the Captain to their cabin boy, carrying a mug of hot cocoa.

"James, my boy," the Captain's hammy voice boomed as he approached his cabin boy. "I gather you've news about Alice?"

He raised a jet-black eyebrow at his superior. How could someone's voice be so hammy despite his small frame? Hook wasn't exactly large. He was tall, at best.

But James shrugged those thoughts off. "I was kicked out of the ship and forced to get my own dinner thanks to your wonderful crew," he huffed. "But yes, I ran into Alice."

"Have a seat." Hook gestured at his dining table where a meal had been, apparently for James. "Tell me everything that happened."

The smell of roasted chicken and mashed potato seduced the boy to obey and eat. However, unlike how Hook had expected, the boy ate slowly in a sophisticated manner. He was not refined like Hook was, but he was certainly not a complete savage like the crew outside. If anything, he seemed like a young lord being taught table etiquette.

"Where the hell do you get gravy in Neverland?" he asked after swallowing his third spoonful of mashed potato. "I mean, this place is practically devoid of civilization."

"I've my ways," the longhaired man answered with a knowing grin, stroking his thin moustache with his hook. "Now tell me what happened, boy."

"Uhh… well," he started, scratching the nape of his neck. He honestly didn't know how to begin, not that he wanted to even if he did know. "Pan seems to have a thing for her."

"A thing for her?" Hook repeated.

"I—I believe it means he fancies her, Cap'n," Smee interjected, wagging a plump finger. "Would you believe that, Cap'n?" he chuckled. "Peter Pan likes Alice!"

The red-clad Captain Hook took his first mate by the hands and both men began to prance about in a bizarrely cliché victory dance. "Brilliant, brilliant!" he exclaimed in glee. "You see, Smee? In no time, our young boy Peter will—"

"And Peter kissed her," James added, immediately stopping the two men on their tracks.

It must have been a miracle—or a curse, rather. Captain Hook was shocked, so shocked that he could only stare at his cabin boy, his mouth agape. He could barely imagine Peter Pan getting a crush (falling in love, perhaps, but getting tongue-tied in front of a girl was out of the question), let alone kissing a girl. No, he was not just shocked. He was outraged.

The man grabbed James by his shirt and pulled him up so that they were at eye level. Dark eyes pierced the boy's icy blue orbs. In Hook's eyes, James noticed a twinkle that he had also noticed in Peter Pan's eyes from afar. His eyes widened at the thought.

"Do you remember the backup plan, boy?" the captain asked in a hiss. After a few seconds of silence, without a response from the boy, he shook James and asked in an angrier tone, "Do you remember the backup?"

James nodded. "Aye, Captain," he mumbled, looking away.

* * *

><p>It was one of those days—the kind where you wanted to sleep in and to stay in bed all day long in your pajamas. It felt like one of those days for her. It was definitely one of those days for her.<p>

Of course, she couldn't do that. It was her last day in Neverland, and she expected that the Lost Boys would want to play with her until she couldn't move. She could imagine the pain creeping across her—no wait, it wasn't just her imagination. She was _feeling_ the pain.

Alice let out an excruciating yelp. She hated cramps. She hated cramps more than she hated everything else that she hated—more than she hated the fact that Matt cheated on her with some blonde idiot. Though the memory was painful as well, it didn't quite matter to her at the moment because it felt like her intestines were being pulled out of her through her—

"Alice, are you okay?" Peter asked by the doorway. His hair was a red mess on his head and he lacked his green hat, indicating that he had just woken up. He was also panting, leading Alice to conclude that her screech caused his wake-up. Panic was evident in his dark eyes.

"I—I'm fine," she answered hastily, though her uneasy breathing told him otherwise. She tightly gripped her abdomen in a desperate attempt to ease the pain, but she maintained a forced grin to reassure Peter that she was okay.

Her tongue clicked in her mouth when she remembered that she had forgotten to bring any painkillers to Neverland. It was a stupid thing to forget that. She could have survived on those peculiar leaves in Tinkerbell's room as sanitary napkins, but nothing in this fantasy world could replace painkillers.

The boy's red eyebrows furrowed. "You don't really look—"

"I'm fine, Peter," she breathed. "I just—I just need a bit of fresh air."

"Do you want me to take you outside?" he offered.

Alice forced a grin. "No, thank you. I can manage."

She didn't wait for a response. Before Peter could open his mouth to insist, the brunette had jumped out the window and was climbing down the treehouse. As she descended, she overheard a group of muffled voices—the older Lost Boys were conversing in the dining room.

"He doesn't seem that different to me!" Cubby stated in his large, almost cracking voice.

The Lost Boy was shushed by another. "Keep it down, Cubby," a rather high-pitched voice—belonging to Nibs, perhaps—whispered, though Alice could still hear him. "We can't let Peter hear or he'll—"

"I'm just sayin' he's still the same!" the larger Boy argued.

The younger Boy scoffed. "Of course you wouldn't notice. You have the attention span of a teaspoon."

Slightly giggled in his equally high-pitched voice, despite being older than both Cubby and Nibs. "Well, the change was real slow," he explained. "It started around the time Wendy, John and Michael left—"

"Went _really_ fast when Jane arrived, but it slowed down again when she left," Nibs added, "and now it's back again because we met—"

"Alice?"

Alice looked down and saw Slightly gazing at her from the window. Somehow, she forgot the pain from her cramps and climbed in through the window with some help from the Lost Boy in a fox suit.

"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly. "Is… is Peter changing?"

Nibs shot a look at the eldest Boy in the room, but Slightly took no notice. Instead, he moved to explain the situation. "Peter usually forgets about things."

"A _lot_ of things!" Cubby agreed.

The Boy in a bunny suit sighed in defeat and finished for his older friends. "But now he remembers all these things."

"He plays with us less now, too," Slightly added. He looked at Alice more worriedly than she did him. "What's happening to him, Alice?"

She examined each of their faces. Nibs bit back a scowl, but crossed his arms stubbornly—he had a vague idea of what was happening, though he must not have known consciously. Cubby was clueless though he seemed to notice the signs. And Slightly was, above all, worried for Peter.

"How often does Peter go to E—" she stopped herself. Did they call it Earth in Neverland? "To the mainland? And for how long?"

The three Boys glanced at each other, as though having a telepathic conversation, and turned back to her. "Once a month," they said in unison, "he only stays for about three hours…"

Alice took note of the details and reached into her bag for her phone. Thankfully, she didn't even use it when she came to Neverland, so the battery was fully charged. She mumbled figures to herself as she used the calculator application in the phone. The result made her widen her eyes in shock.

"Peter had grown three years…" she murmured inaudibly. "And not just biologically. I'm sure after three generations, his mind also…"

Slightly's eyebrows rose, noticing that the girl was whispering to herself. "Alice? What's wrong?"

She shook her head and forced a smile. "It's nothing. I don't know, maybe Peter's just… like that. I'm not exactly in any position to compare him."

"Can you fix him?" the Boy asked.

"I'm not really sure how… but I'll try. I'll try."

Nibs was about to open his mouth to speak, but Alice suddenly fell over. She was able to hang onto the wall to support herself, and Slightly and Cubby sprung to her side to help her up. The girl gripped her abdomen with a pained expression. The bunny's eyebrows rose in anxiety and he rushed over to his friends to help her as well.

"Alice, are you alright?" each Lost Boy asked in panic.

It was definitely one of those days—she wanted nothing more than to be in her own bed, back in the States, curled up in a blanket and watching nonstop TV. She hated being away from home. She hated her cramps. She couldn't even concentrate on standing—all her consciousness was busy with the excruciating pain in her lower abdomen.

Peter seemed to have heard the commotion as he came in flying through the window. He took Alice's arm and wrapped it over his shoulder, letting her use him as support.

"Does your tummy hurt?" he asked, walking her over to the dining table.

She shook her head. "I just need some painkillers, that's all…" she mumbled weakly.

"Painkillers, what are painkillers?" He was beginning to panic.

"It's fine. I can survive this. Just… yeah, I have some painkillers back at home. Grandma is bound to have some, too. I can wait 'til tonight."

The Lost Boys, their leader included, could only trust her words, despite the doubt in their eyes. They had never seen this kind of pain befall someone, and none knew what to do.

* * *

><p>Much later that day—in fact, it was in the late afternoon—Alice once again snuck away. She made her way to the river and followed it to Hook's ship.<p>

But as she approached, she noticed that something was off. For one, it was quiet. Normally, the pirates would be eating, drinking, singing, whistling, wrestling—basically anything that involved loud noises and stories that were probably untrue—and when they noticed her presence, one would inform Hook. In fact, it wasn't just that they were quiet. The pirates were nowhere to be seen. She had assumed the time was perfect for swabbing the deck or lazing about on deck, but it seemed that all hands were elsewhere.

Instead, she was met with a single head of messy black hair. She beamed when she saw James and ran towards him to engulf the boy in a tight bearhug. Though he was taken aback, he was able to return the gesture, however awkwardly.

"I'm leaving tonight," she said before letting go. "I was hoping to say goodbye to you and Hook and Smee. Believe it or not, I was able to find friendship in pirates."

He chuckled and pointed to the captain's quarters. "Unfortunately, the Cap'n's inside formulating a plan to regain his treasure from Peter Pan." James stepped forward, though it was so subtle that Alice didn't even notice. "A—are you leaving for good?" He refused to meet her eyes when he spoke.

"I'm not sure…" her voice faltered. "I'm going to try and convince my mother to let Peter visit me in the States, and well, I'll worry about going back to Neverland after that." A smile tugged at the girl's lips. "But if ever, I'll bring my laptop so we can watch movies here. I know how much you miss pop culture."

He rolled his eyes. "Trust me, you have _no_ idea."

However, soon silence took over. It was a few minutes after that Alice broke the silence and spoke.

"Okay, well, I can't really stay here for long," she said. "Peter and the others might come looking for me because I, uhh… I haven't exactly been feeling my best recently." Before James could react, she added, "I'm fine though. Perfectly fine."

"A—anyway, could you just tell Hook that I passed by?" Alice stepped forward and hugged him again, her arms wrapping around his shoulders. "Goodbye, James."

He didn't seem to appreciate the physical contact, though he feebly let his arms circle her figure. "Yeah…"

She released him and grinned. "I'll see you when I see you, 'kay?"

He nodded. "Take care. On your way home, I mean. Yeah. Bye."

* * *

><p>It was late in the evening and yet the lights were still on in the old Darling household. Of course, the people in that house no longer used the name Darling, since the owner was a woman born with that name. Jane sat patiently in the nursery as her daughter paced the room furiously.<p>

"What makes you think Peter will bring her back, Mother?" The brown-haired woman struggled not to yell at her aged mother. Though she grew up in the States, she still had traces of the British accent. "You made us grow up away from here _because_ you were afraid he might take us."

"Moira," the old woman spoke, pushing back a lock of short gray hair that had fallen in front of her face, "I'm positive that Alice will come back. She's smarter than that."

Her daughter, Moira, sighed. She was the spitting image of Mary and Wendy Darling and of Jane when they were at her age. Jane suspected Alice would one day grow up to look like them as well. She watched as the brunette calmed herself down and sat on the bed that Jane and her mother before her once used as children.

"I know, Mother," Moira murmured, "but I've seen that boy. I've seen Peter before. I didn't think he was real, but I actually saw him."

Jane's blue eyes widened in surprise. Her daughter had met Peter before? She had always had confidence that, unlike her mother, she was able to protect her children from meeting and falling in love with Peter Pan. Perhaps she was wrong.

"But I hid from him because I didn't want him to take me away," she continued. "But Alice… she left with him. And to think she is more rational than both of us combined. She would've thought she was just seeing things! And—and she had just found out about Matt. What if she rebounds?"

Suddenly, a dark shadow appeared, crawling through the window and disappearing behind the bed. Both women stared at the bed curiously, unsure if they had really seen a shadow.

And then a faint "I lost him again!"

Jane perked up. She _knew_ that voice. Noticing her mother's quick reaction, Moira bounded to the window, looking up and expecting to see her daughter. And true enough, she saw Alice being carried by a redheaded boy clad in green, followed by a glowing gold light. It was him. It was Peter Pan.

"Out of the way, Mom!" Alice shrieked.

With wide blue eyes, Moira jumped out of the way and Peter entered the room. Alice escaped the boy's gentle grip and bearhugged her mother and grandmother on the bed.

Peter, on the other hand, disappeared under the bed, looking for his shadow. He saw the shadow sneak to the dresser and accidentally bumped his head on the bottom of the bed. Alice released her huggees and pulled Peter out from under the bed.

"What the hell, Peter?" she yelled, holding him by the collar.

"M—my shadow!" he stammered, not wanting to face the wrath of a female who had allies with her. "My shadow got away!"

"Where?"

He pointed a finger to the dresser and his gold light flew toward the top drawer. It seemed a major déjà vu for Tinkerbell, but at least now she knew better than to come flying in through the keyhole.

Alice, with a firm hand on her abdomen, took in a deep breath and said, "Okay, if you don't get out of there and go back to Peter, I swear I will make your life a living _hell_!"

The shadow curiously peeked at her from behind the dresser.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been holding back?" she asked. "I've been having cramps since day one, and while I was certainly able to give Hook a good verbal beating, I am so ready to berate you until you come out of there! Do you really want that?"

Then the shadow reluctantly left its hiding place and attached itself to Peter. Even Peter stared at Alice, his mouth agape and eyes riddled with fear. But he also realized that she really had been holding back. He remembered her struggling in her sleep when they slept together at Piccaninny Tribe and even when he watched her take naps after playing with the Lost Boys.

"Alice," a brown-haired woman called. She looked very much like Mary did when he met Wendy and like Wendy did when he met Jane. Just from that, he knew exactly who she was—Alice's mom. She ran to the younger brunette and embraced her warmly. "Alice, you're home."

"Not quite, actually," her daughter grinned, her left eye closing to avoid Moira's long brown hair. "Mom, can we give Peter our address in the States?"

Moira hesitated. She glanced at Jane for a sign of confirmation or refusal, but the old woman only smiled at her. It was her choice. Then she turned back to her daughter and nodded. "We'll talk to your father about it when we get home so we can arrange whether or not you're allowed to go to Neverland again. Until further notice, _he_ can visit you, but _you_ can't come with him." Her voice was soft yet stern. "Is that understood, young lady?"

Alice nodded as well and hugged her mother again. "Thanks, Mom." Then she walked over to the dresser and pulled out a pen and a piece of paper from the top drawer. After scribbling her home address onto the paper, she handed it to Peter. "If you can't read, get Hook to read it for you," she said with a wink. "Or Terence. Yeah, I think if you gave it to Terence, life would be easier."

Peter chuckled at the girl's added monologue at the end. "I can read, Alice. Mary taught me."

Her lips curled up. "Of course you can, Peter."

For the last time that evening, he flashed her a pearly white grin and stepped out of the window to float in the air outside. With his legs outstretched, he crowed and Tinkerbell followed him. Alice watched as the green-clad boy ascended to the evening sky, approaching the second star to the right, flying into the night.

* * *

><p><strong>Finally done! I'm sorry it took so long. I've been really busy with school and I tried my hand at Young Justice fanfics. Summer vacation is coming soon for me though, so I might be able to finish the next chapter in time. Yeah, hopefully.<strong>

**The reason why I took so long with this chapter (apart from being busy and all) is because I didn't really know what to write for this one. I knew what to write for the next chapters, but I didn't know how to "get there". I meant for this to be a filler chapter, but it seemed to be substantially important plotwise.**

**By the way, if you'll notice, Alice's mother's name is Moira Carlisle. She was named after two people: Moira, who is Jane's canonical daughter (in the book as well as in the movie **_**Hook**_**), and Gwendolyn Carlisle from the Disney Fairies books. I've never read any of those books, but I did see **_**Hook**_**. (You guys will understand why I used Carlisle in the next few chapters, hopefully.) By the way, keep in mind that there has ever been a Darling girl with no siblings (except Gwendolyn, I think). That's why Moira keeps saying "we" and "us".  
><strong>

**I also discovered Spieling Peter Pan very recently. I feel bad that I was never able to meet him, but I do have the means to communicate with the actor himself (like anyone does... lol, thanks to Twitter). But like I said, it's just too bad that I never got to meet him as Peter Pan. Well, I guess that's because I've never even been able to the USA, let alone Disneyland in Anaheim, CA.**

**Unfortunately, I can't base the Peter here on Spieling Peter. I'll try to emulate him though.**

**R&R, my lovelies.**

**~ froggy**


	10. Back to Normal

**Disclaimer: I don't own Peter Pan or any characters related to him. But I do own Alice, her friends and her family (except Mary, Wendy, Jane, Moira, and Margaret). And yeah, I don't own **_**Out of My League**_** by Stephen Speaks and any and all the shows I'll mention/describe in this chapter.**

* * *

><p><strong>While reviewing the previous chapter for the recap here, I realized how painstakingly obvious it is that these are just kids. I mean, Alice and James actually seem pretty shallow and James gives horrible, awkward advice. Just sayin'.<strong>

**The story so far: After a particularly awkward dinner, Alice finds herself in a heart-to-heart with James and Terence. Upon Alice's return to the treehouse, Peter asks her to forget about the kiss. Meanwhile, James reports Alice's story to Hook who decides to switch to a backup plan. The next day, Alice walks into the (older) Lost Boys having a conversation about how Peter has changed through the generations of Darling girls. That evening, Peter takes Alice home to the old Darling house where Jane and her daughter Moira are waiting.**

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><p><strong>IamCattiCandi<strong> – Thanks!

**Megan** – Hi! Oh god, I'm sorry I wasn't able to update sooner. I know how it feels to read a fic and wait for years for the next chapter (and I do mean _years_). Unfortunately, I don't think I can incorporate Andrew's portrayal of Peter Pan into this, but I'll try my best. After all, my Peter is in his awkward stage. By the way, do you know that he's engaged to the girl who played Wendy (and Alice)?

**amethyst3232** –I'm happy there's someone out there who doesn't hate James. There will be more of him, so I hope everyone will see how awesome he is. I think I like him more than I like Alice, because I find Alice to be a very confusing character, and not in a good way. James is confusing because he's mysterious, and I like him because of that. And yes, I put Terrence here mostly so I could poke fun at him because I love him that much.

* * *

><p><strong>Redrum<strong>

**Summary:** Alice is a teenager with normal teenager problems, except that she's another one of Wendy's descendants who get whisked off by Peter Pan. Will he be able to make her forget about Matt? Peter x OC, present generation. Disney-verse. Expect love triangles.

**_Chapter 10  
><em>**

_Back to Normal_

* * *

><p>Alice fell out of bed and woke up. She was back in her bedroom. It felt so good to be home, though she did miss the smiling faces of the Lost Boys. And Peter. Of course she would miss him. It had only been two days since she left Neverland. She wasn't sure when he would visit her, but she left him her address, so he <em>would<em> visit her, right?

She stood up, still groggy despite having slept for nine hours, and made her way to her bathroom. Getting ready for the morning didn't quite wake her up, but she headed for the stairs anyway. Thankfully, she didn't fall down the stairs, but she did bump into her brother at the kitchen. Her eyes were closed as she headed to the cupboard, so she didn't see him standing in the way.

The older boy in front of her raised a brown eyebrow at her as he opened the cupboard. "Shouldn't you at least look presentable in the morning?" he asked incredulously.

"It's still summer vacation and I have no intention of going out today," she huffed. "Mind your own business, Andy."

A chuckle escaped him as he reached for the cereal box. "Get me some milk, would you?" he said.

Alice didn't protest. She was going to have cereal anyway, and she knew Andy wouldn't give her any cereal if she didn't get him the milk. It was like this every morning before she and Moira left for England.

"So how was Grandma?" he asked. It wasn't small talk—he honestly wanted to know. After all, he couldn't make it to England.

"Doing better than ever," she grinned sleepily. "Are you sure she's our grandmother? I've never seen Mom or Aunt Margaret energetic like that?"

"Mom and Aunt Margaret didn't survive a frickin' war," he joked. "Grandma went through zeppelins and bombings. Hell, even her old house survived the war."

The thought brought a soft smile to her lips. "I think that house will be there for a long time."

Soon their mother entered the kitchen. She seemed surprised to see her children up this early, but she prioritized breakfast. As she collected three eggs from the fridge, she glanced at Alice and Andy.

"You're up early," she stated. "It's still summer, y'know. You can still sleep in."

"I'd love to, Mom," her son replied with a cheeky grin. "But I have a few things on my to-do list that I wanna get started on as soon as I can."

"And that includes?" Alice asked.

Andy turned to his sister with an expression she'd never seen on his face. "Planning revenge."

At that instant, she realized what he meant and frowned at her brother. "You don't need to do that."

"You haven't _seen_ him with his little slut in the alley beside the arcade," he retorted. "It's disgusting."

Alice's eyes softened and she looked away.

He touched her hand—the only comforting gesture he could make as her brother. "I'm sorry."

"Alice?" Moira murmured, approaching her daughter. "Alice, are you okay?"

The younger girl had to force a grin. "I'm fine, Mom. I've got better things to look forward to today." She stood up, left her bowl of half-eaten cereal in the kitchen sink and disappeared up the stairs.

Andy scoffed. "She doesn't have to hide it. Anyone would feel horrible after what that bastard Matt did."

"Andy," Moira reprimanded. But his words rang true. Even she wanted to exact a painful revenge on the sixteen-year-old who had wronged her daughter. "Your sister needs time to heal, and mentioning him won't help."

"I know," he sighed. "Should I go apologize to her?"

A smile formed on his mother's lips. "You already did."

Meanwhile, Alice locked herself in her bedroom. Her period had finished for the month—she woke up with no stains at all. But now she felt as though all the cramps managed to evacuate to her head. She grabbed her iPod, inserted the earphones into her ears and played in full volume all the nice angsty songs that would apply to her current mood.

She stared out her window to an area in the sky where the second star would have been were it nighttime and sighed. "Dammit, Peter," she muttered through the blaring music in her ears. "It doesn't help that it hurts less now…"

* * *

><p>James kept a firm grip on his mop's wooden handle as he swabbed the deck. It didn't help that the crew walked all over the deck just as the floorboards were drying. He had to mop it all over again. And he couldn't complain—not unless he wanted a beating from them again.<p>

After one last sweep, he let out a defeated sigh and grabbed the old bucket with his free hand. There was barely any soapy water inside now that he had mopped the deck for the nth time. He threw whatever was left of the water out into the sea and scowled. Now he had to clean the mop. Fun. Although considering the earful he received from Hook after he'd told the captain that Alice had left Neverland, swabbing the deck was a walk in the park.

"Pan!" the crew's lookout yelled from the crow's nest. His single warning caused the entire crew to scatter.

The young cabin boy, knowing better than to involve himself in the commotion, ran straight to the cabins where he watched the events on deck through the cracks in the floorboards. As far as he was concerned, Peter Pan had no business to be looking for Hook. Of course, knowing the child, he guessed Peter was just bored and looking for trouble.

Upon hearing the lookout's cry, the ship's captain exited his quarters with eyes burning with rage. "What business have you here, Peter Pan?" he asked in a surprisingly calm manner.

The redhead grinned at him, which infuriated the pirate even more. "To steal your treasure, of course!" The boy laughed as Hook approached him.

"Don't waste your efforts, boy!" the man yelled. "I have no treasure. Not since you blasted it into smithereens."

"No, _you_ blasted it into smithereens. I was just helping your aim."

It seemed as though the captain popped a vein. He shot a nasty look at the boy flying in the air and yelled, "Shut your mouth or I'll blast you to smithereens!"

James flinched as a cannon fired at Peter, though the redhead dodged it with ease. He tossed a lock of black hair away from his eyes and stared at the younger boy with contempt. His breath felt like hisses as he remembered that fateful day clear in his mind—the day when Peter Pan—

_CLANG!_

"What part of 'Do not make a sound!' do you not understand?" a high-pitched voice whispered from behind the barrels of rum.

"I didn't do it," a cracking voice replied. "These barrels smell really bad."

The other voice scoffed. "Well, these are the pirates' new treasure, and we're gonna take 'em!"

James entered the cargo room, the smell of rum permeating the air. He was just a kid and he was never one for drinking—the stench disgusted him.

"Did you hear that?" the first voice asked cautiously. "I think someone else is down here."

"Naw, that's silly." James saw that the second voice belonged to a large boy in a bear suit. Probably one of Pan's Lost Boys. "Everyone's upstairs, being distracted by Peter."

The teenager gulped. He didn't know whether he should show himself to the Lost Boys or to continue hiding. Clearly, he couldn't trust them, but to what extent? He shook his head and made for the exit, to go back to his tiny room where he would be safe.

"There it is again!" Cubby exclaimed. "Maybe it's a ghost!"

"Well, why would there be a ghost in Hook's ship?" Slightly retorted as he hauled a wooden barrel off its shelf. "If there was a ghost, it would be hauntin' Hook, not us."

The larger boy shrugged. "It could be the ghost of that cabin boy—"

James took a wrong step, the floorboards creaking under his foot. "Fuck," he mumbled as he grabbed a dirty rag and covered his face with it. Then he grabbed a small dagger from his belt and turned on the faucet of the nearest keg of rum. Almost instantly, the barrel expelled its dark red contents, the splashing sounds catching the Lost Boys off-guard.

"A drowned ghost!" Cubby shrieked as he grabbed onto his partner.

"Will you let go of me?" Slightly's voice was muffled as he spoke into the larger boy's fur hood. The blonde shoved him away. "There's somebody else here!"

The teenager aimed carefully. He only had one shot to scare them off, and he didn't want to waste it. Despite the barrels around him impairing his movement, he threw his dagger across the room, pinning Cubby's hood onto the wall.

"It's a ghost!" the boy yelped. "I swear it's a ghost!" He grabbed his partner and shook him frantically.

Slightly, not wanting to endure his sufficiently creeped-out companion while lugging a barrel of a peculiar red liquid, put the barrel back in its place and sighed in exasperation. "Fine, but I'm not going to face Peter when he finds out we didn't get the treasure!"

James smirked at himself when the two Boys disappeared with a ripping sound, leaving Cubby's hood still stuck on the wall. However, his smirk turned into a scowl when he glanced at the rum that dripped from the keg and into the red puddle on the floor. He would have to clean that up eventually.

No, that wasn't the only reason for his scowl. He hated the color red. The color of blood, the color of Pan's hair, the color of rum—RED RUM.

He decided to pretend that he hadn't seen the Lost Boys until after they'd left. When Hook questioned him about the wasted rum in the cargo room (after James had cleaned up the mess, of course), he simply shrugged and said that he spent the entire time hiding in his cabin. Naturally, the pirate believed him. After all, he had been loyal to Hook for so long—even when it concerned Alice. Why would the cabin boy turn from him now?

James had his reasons, and he had his plans.

* * *

><p>April watched as her brunette friend ate spoonful after spoonful of the chocolate ice cream she brought. Both girls had tried their best not to mention Matt as they watched <em>BBC Sherlock<em> on the blonde's MacBook. It was Alice's way of coping. But halfway through the episode, she broke down and began sobbing. April comforted her, brought her the ice cream she hid in the Carlisles' fridge because she knew Alice would need it. And she did.

"If he didn't want me, he could've just broken up with me before I left," the brunette mumbled through sobs with her face pressed onto her knees. "That way, I could've gotten over him, sort of…"

Her best friend put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I tried to tell you he was bad news, Alice…" April murmured. "He tried to hit on me once, y'know."

"I know." Alice lifted her face from her knees and moved to hug her best friend. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you before, April…"

Andy was downstairs in the kitchen. It was his turn to make dinner, and he was glad, as he didn't want to have Alice do any chores in her emotional state. But now that dinner was ready, he had to go upstairs and face the emotional wreck of a sister hiding in her bedroom as though it were a cave, her only companions being April, her MacBook and a collection of Disney movies, BBC series, Korean romances, shoujo anime (whatever that meant), and anything else the two girls could watch.

With a deep breath, he knocked on the door and said, "Alice, April, dinner!"

That wasn't so bad. But then the door opened and he saw his sister. He was right to think of her as a wreck, because that was what she looked like. She had dark circles around her eyes, her hair was a mess that had lost its vibrant brown color, her clothes were wrinkled with her knees wet with tears… and the list went on.

As soon as she stepped outside, Andy grabbed her and hugged her. It had been a while since he held his sister like that. The last time he hugged her was probably when she was ten. They were still close as siblings, but siblings generally don't hug each other freely once they enter their preteen years.

He closed his eyes as the petite girl in his arms fell limp and leaned on his shoulder, her damp cheeks marked with tears. He hated seeing her that way, but he had to let go. When she looked up at him and gave him a tiny smile, he ruffled her already messy hair and motioned for her to go downstairs to eat.

As Alice tottered down the stairway, trying to decide whether or not she wanted to eat at all, April exited the bedroom. It was then that she came face to face with her best friend's brother. He was the same as when she'd last seen him, which wasn't that long ago. Still handsome, with dark brown hair that fell over his blue eyes—dark brown hair that contrasted his sister's chocolate brown. The blonde's brown eyes widened as his blue orbs inevitably gazed into hers. But then he turned away.

"Thanks for comforting her," he mumbled, standing aside so she could make her way downstairs as well. "She's been a wreck. I think the movies and ice cream will help."

She smiled at him, fighting back the pink that rushed to her face. "She was avoiding Peter Pan though," April said. "Would you happen to know if that has anything to do with Matt? She used to love that movie…"

Andy shook his head. "We're related to the girl in the movie. She was our great-grandmother."

"I see…" The girl put hand under her chin and looked up thoughtfully. "It must be something else…"

He headed to his bedroom as the younger girl disappeared down the stairs. While cooking, he had decided not to eat with them. Alice needed the space. He got on his PC and proceeded to his usual internet routine—9GAG, Facebook, Twitter… Then he heard a creak from Alice's room.

"That girl…" he huffed as he stood and stalked toward the other bedroom. "I thought she'd finally learned to keep her windows closed when—"

His blue eyes widened at the sight of a red-haired boy, clad in green tights, standing on his sister's windowpane with a glowing golden light perched on his shoulder. What the hell? He moved to grab the boy, but the redhead flew—yes, _flew_—to the ceiling and stared at him with bushy eyebrows that shot up to his hairline.

"Is this Alice's room?" the younger boy asked.

Andy was freaking out. But the boy knew his sister's name. What the hell was happening? He was about to grab the closest projectile when the boy suddenly flew down to him and showed him his sister's DS.

"Is this Alice's room?" he asked again. "She left this in Neverland."

"Never—Neverland?" Andy stammered. He glanced at the open door behind him, though he didn't want to take his eyes of this peculiar stranger. "Alice!" he yelled. "Alice! Get over here!"

Soon enough, he heard the girl's footsteps heading up the stairs. They were particularly loud—he had probably interrupted a conversation, or maybe she simply didn't want to have to go upstairs for whatever he had to show her.

"Peter!" she gasped upon seeing the redhead.

Andy stared at his sister, mouthing 'You _know_ this kid?' to her with an incredulous gaze.

The golden light on Peter's shoulder flew toward Alice and the brunette grinned. "Tink! How are you guys?"

Her brother watched as the fairy replied in rings as though it were a bell, his eyes widening in disbelief. He grasped his sister's wrist as though it was his only link to reality and dragged her out of her room, leaving Peter and Tink standing—or rather, floating—mouth agape.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Andy asked once he and his sister were out of earshot. "Who is this Peter kid and what is that _thing_ flying around him? Actually, screw that—why is _he_ flying?"

"Peter Pan," Alice said simply. "God, Andy, for someone descended from Wendy Darling herself, you should at least be able to identify Peter Pan when he comes flying into your room. Well, into your sister's room, in this case."

"Alice!" He grabbed her by the shoulders and fought the urge to shake her. "What. The. Fuck."

"Trust me, Andrew, this is a much better explanation than what I got when I first met him," she huffed in exasperation, recalling her first experience with the boy.

Andy blinked. If his sister was using his real name, then she must be dead serious about this, and that boy in her room was, in fact, Peter Pan. _The_ Peter Pan. He backed up and leaned against the wall, trying to remember the stories about the green-clad boy he had heard as a child. He did remember a pixie. Or a fairy… or whatever she was. Tink… Tinkerbell.

"I don't expect you to believe in any of this," Alice murmured, disturbing her brother's train of thought. "But don't mention it in front of Tinkerbell. You remember Grandma's stories about when she said she didn't believe in fairies, right?"

He nodded meekly.

"Well, I owe that fairy my temper, so I don't wanna risk anything," she joked before grabbing the doorknob and turning back to her room. "Peter, Tink—what the hell are you doing?"

Andy followed his sister inside to find the two foreign objects (err… people) flittering over Alice's prized plushie collection. He knew exactly how she would react whenever she saw anyone so much as _look_ at the pile of plush, and he couldn't tell if he was either amused or afraid that Peter Pan would get scolded by his sister over her collection.

"You do _not_ touch that!" she shrieked. "God, Peter, ge—get off!"

The redhead dropped a caped plushie when Alice raised her voice and his fairy companion hid under his green hat. He and Tink stared at her, their jaws dropping at how red she had become. Not nearly as red as Tinkerbell would get in a state of jealousy and rage, but Alice was rather close.

She lunged at the plushie before it hit the carpeted floor and cradled it gently in her arms. "Oh my god, Robin—baby—my little Dickie-bird, are you okay?" she murmured at the stuffed sidekick before putting it back on its blue shelf. "It's okay, Mommy's here, my loves."

"She's had that collection since she was five," Andy said, shrugging at the outsiders. "Some are new, but she loves them all equally. Even _I've_ never touched any of those, and I'm her brother."

Alice shook her head vehemently. "No, you've touched Mr. Snugglybear, you heartless fiend."

"It was falling during an earthquake," he retorted in a whiny voice. "What was I supposed to do?"

"Wingardium leviosa, levitate it, use the force, use telepathy, _I don't know_. Just. Don't. Touch. Him."

He gave his sister an incredulous look and turned back to their visitors. "Okay, _how_ were you able to stand her for a week?" he asked the redhead.

"It's a pretty easy thing to do, _Andrew_," she hissed, "something apparently even a fairy has over you. Even Mini Jesse McCartney has more social skills than you!"

"Mini Jesse McCartney is a plushie!"

"Actually, I was talking about Terence, but yeah, that works too," she smirked. Then she let out a breath and glanced at Peter and Tink. "Yes, we're like this in front of _everyone_."

Tinkerbell laughed, though the sound she made was a tinkle instead of an actual laugh. She gripped her stomach and rolled over on Peter's red hair. Andy and Alice reminded her too much of herself and Terence, and Alice referring to the sparrow-man as Mini Jesse McCartney did not help.

"A—anyway, you didn't get lost on the way here, did you?" Alice asked worriedly as she approached Peter.

The green-clad boy shook his head. "You didn't forget the candles, so I found your room right away," he beamed.

Alice glanced at her windowpane on which she had left lit candles before watching _Sherlock_ with April. She'd forgotten those candles were there at all. April? Forget?

"Shit, I left April downstairs!"

The outburst was met with a chuckle from the stairway. "No, Alice," her blonde friend said from outside the room. "I'm on my way. What's going on up there?"

"A _lot_," the brunette mumbled to herself.

* * *

><p>"It was <em>huge<em> and—and it had sharp fangs and bat wings and—"

Slightly scoffed. "No, it didn't! Cubby has the story all wrong again." He shifted in his seat until he found a comfortable position. "First of all, it was a ghost, not a monster. And the ghost was white and flowy, slightly like a blanket."

The Twins scooted closer. "Did it make weird sounds, Slightly?" one of them asked.

"Like this?" the other added before wailing eerily at his brother.

"Yes, and it was slightly like that," the Boy in a fox-suit said. "Anyway, the ghost—what were we doing again?"

"We were getting the treasure," Cubby replied, having forgotten that Slightly stole his thunder and told the story himself.

The blonde nodded. "That's right. I was getting the treasure—and it was really heavy—and Cubby was telling me there might be a ghost."

"And I was right!" the large Boy exclaimed. "The ghost threw a knife at us!"

"The ghost threw a knife at _you_, Cubby," Slightly corrected, "'cuz you were so noisy! You woke it up with all your whining."

"Then what happened?" Nibs asked, his open mouth showing his buckteeth clearly.

"We ran away."

Slightly and Cubby were then bombarded with complaints of a bad story and remarks that Peter could tell a better story with his mouth closed. Cubby braced himself under his heavy arms, as though hiding would cease the nitpicking.

"C'mon, tell us a _real_ story!" Nibs demanded, crossing his fluffy bunny arms and pouting at his seniors. "Peter tells the best stories, and you can't just tell us something lame like, 'We ran away.'"

The blonde Lost Boy in a fox suit sighed in defeat and stared at his comrades with fiery eyes. This somehow made them quiet down and gaze at him intently as though he had the same commanding power as Peter Pan had over them. Well, after all, he was second-in-command, and with Peter gone, he was their substitute leader.

"Fine, I'll tell you the story of a _real_ ghost," he said. "Some of you may find this slightly scary. Some might already know about it. Some might have even been there when it happened. But know that this is entirely true."

"A ghost story?" one of the Twins repeated eagerly.

They both flanked Slightly and the other added, "What is it about?"

"This is the story of the ghost cabin boy…"

* * *

><p>James sighed in utter boredom as he sat in the captain's quarters. Captain Hook was playing the piano again—this time some sort of love song (he really couldn't tell if it was) from whatever century he didn't exactly care for. The cabin boy could barely keep his stance from sheer boredom and had resorted to leaning on the piano for support.<p>

As the song turned into Beethoven's Für Elise, a tune that the teenager actually recognized, the tall pirate glanced at his cabin boy with a knowing smirk. "Alice seems to have an affinity for music," Hook stated suddenly.

The younger James nodded. "Most teenagers these days do. Contemporary music is easier to appreciate than classics. Although, yeah, I think Alice is really into music."

"She once asked me to teach her how to play. She even played what she knew."

The pirate began playing _Out of My League_ by Stephen Speaks on the antique piano, which James almost immediately recognized. Considering that Alice had only touched that piano once, which meant that Hook had only heard the song once, James realized that his superior was a virtuoso, a true prodigy with the piano.

"I know that song."

Hook stopped playing and sat aside. "Would you like to play it?"

A thin black eyebrow rose. "I meant I know the lyrics," he corrected. "I don't know how to play it on the piano."

Captain Hook nodded and resumed playing. "Sing it, then. This may be the only thing you have over Peter Pan."

The boy scowled at the remark but obeyed anyway. He cleared his throat and tried to recall the lyrics as the first verse neared.

"_It's her hair and her eyes today,  
>that just simply take me away…"<em>

His blue eyes widened at his own voice. It had been a while since he last sang anything, and his voice had rasped somewhat since he began working in Hook's crew. But his singing voice was the same and he sounded… okay.

"_And the feeling that I'm falling further in love  
>makes me shiver but in a good way."<em>

His mind faltered its mechanical typing of lyrics and moved instead to imagine the situation of the song. It brought him back to the past, to the times when he lived a normal life—going to school, complaining about homework, playing video games, teasing his friends who had gotten themselves girlfriends (or rather, gotten soft). He missed those times.

"_All the times I have sat and stared  
>as she thoughtfully thumbs through her hair.<br>And she purses her lips, bats her eyes and she plays,  
>with me sitting there slack-jawed and nothing to say…"<em>

There was a girl in his mind, and the song was describing her. It felt like one of those music videos they showed on MTV—all cheesy and weird and ugh.

"'_Cause I love her with all that I am,  
>and my voice shakes along with my hands,<br>'cause she's all that I see and she's all that I need  
>and I'm out of my league once again…"<em>

As his voice trailed away, James slammed a closed fist on the piano and glared at his feet. He muttered gruff curses to himself and paced toward the door before raising his head and turning to look at his superior.

"It's a stupid song."

Hook smirked. "My dear boy, love, in general, is stupid," he replied, "which is why it must be exploited to achieve our aim. We've the same goal, after all."

James chuckled in derision. "Don't compare yourself to me, Captain. The only thing we have in common is our first name." He cleared his throat and opened the wooden door before him. "I'll take my leave now, Captain."

Once left to himself, Captain Hook sneered. He hated that he needed to depend upon these irrational, unthinking teenagers to carry out his plots, yet he thought himself a genius for having come up with schemes that, if executed properly, would lead to Peter Pan's vulnerability and, ultimately, his demise.

* * *

><p>Alice contemplated on her current situation. Cheeks flushing, breath shortening, heart racing. She glanced at the figure that floated over her bed, completely engrossed in the glowing object that was her laptop, and thought of the events of the past thirty minutes.<p>

She spent most of those thirty minutes explaining to her best friend that the flying boy in her room was Peter Pan—_the_ Peter Pan, as in the one in the Disney movie. The rest of the time seemed rushed as April took her leave, all the while giving Peter and Tinkerbell peculiar glances, and Andy offered to walk the blonde home. It was refreshing to see her brother reciprocate her best friend's feelings for once, but Alice's mind was otherwise occupied. She had been left alone again with Peter, though Tinkerbell was flying comfortably around the boy's shoulder.

The redhead shifted in his seat midair and repeatedly stole glimpses of the girl perched precariously at the edge of her bed. He saw that she was in deep thought and looked instead to the pixie hovering beside him. However, he couldn't maintain his silence for long.

"Alice," he murmured, "come back to Neverland."

She looked at him. "Peter, I'm not sure if I should go back there so soon. A—and Andy will worry if he comes back and I'm not here."

His eyebrows furrowed and he glanced outside the window to the gleaming star in the night sky. "But the Lost Boys miss you so terribly, Alice," he pleaded with a pout. "We need our mother with us."

"I'm not really your mother," she mumbled. "It's just pretend—like a dream that you wake up from, and you have to live another day before you go to bed, drift off to sleep, and continue dreaming."

"Then dream again, Alice." He floated toward her and held her hand. "Dream again with us. With me."

Her eyes widened. What answer did she have for that? None; she was speechless. Apart from that, the fact that her heart was pounding in her chest didn't help at all. She avoided his eyes—looked away.

Peter stepped forward, leaning in on her, perhaps to try and kiss her. But she leaned back and kept her arms in front of her as a barrier between them. She had an obligation to stay, but she wanted so badly to go back. But she knew she didn't belong there.

Or perhaps she could just pay them a visit…

"I—I'll go with you," she murmured.

He sighed, relieved, and wrapped her in a warm embrace. "Yes!"

She found herself lost in the embrace, but quickly came back to her senses and pulled away. Alice looked him in the eye and said, "But I can't stay for too long. I'll just visit to… straighten things up. I'm sure without me around, the treehouse is a complete mess again." She paused before continuing. "How are the boys doing?"

"Well, why don't you find out for yourself?" he laughed before scooping her into his arms.

She laughed as well and struggled to break free from his grip. "Wait, Peter, I have a few things I wanna bring."

He let her go, and she walked over to her bed and grabbed her Mac. Without Terrence and his pixie dust around to power her electronics and whatnot, she needed to make the most out of it. Thankfully, she had gotten Peter to agree with not staying for too long.

When she had her things ready (as well as a note for Andy when he returned), she jumped at Peter and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He grinned at her and pulled her up into the air with him. And then it was off to Neverland again.

* * *

><p>"You think she really likes that boy?" April asked as she traced along the sidewalk with her foot. She had her hands shoved in her pockets, the same way as Andy did. "Peter Pan, I mean."<p>

The older teenager shook his head. "I'm not really sure," he shrugged. "I mean, he's nice and all—but I'm gonna give it an overall no."

"She hasn't gotten over Matt yet…" the blonde murmured.

"She hasn't even broken up with him yet," he added in exasperation. "Don't you girls have that, like, two-month rule or something?"

"Three-month," she corrected him. "But I don't think they're, like, _that_ or anything."

He shook his head again. "The guy's like something out of a fairytale, and I love my sister, y'know."

"Probably more than a brother should," she added under her breath.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "I don't want her to get hurt. That Peter kid—he's got hurt written _all_ over him."

"But are you gonna do anything to stop them? If worse comes to worse?"

For the third time, Andy shook his head. "Alice is smart, and I trust her. Matt was an anomaly—everyone makes a mistake. The chances of her making the same mistake twice, and in a row? Well, if she does, I'd expect another one and the streak is over."

* * *

><p>James sat in the bird's nest, his legs dangling precariously over the wooden railing. He liked using the little place as a makeshift hammock whenever the crew was below deck. It gave him some privacy—some time to think.<p>

And he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the tiniest shooting star fall toward where the treehouse was, following by a rather large silhouette—too large for a young boy like Peter Pan. He knew exactly what that meant.

A smile formed on the boy's dried lips. Then he grabbed the rope and swooped down like Tarzan did in the movies. Yeah, that was always fun.

It wasn't time yet, but maybe if he walked really slowly, he'd get there in time. Maybe. On the way, perhaps he would distract himself with things that distracted him the most, whatever those things were.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm sorry it's so late. Okay, so I've had this chapter for a while now, but I couldn't finish it due to a severe case of writer's block. I was able to get through it because I was also writing a YJ fanfic, but I still couldn't finish this chapter. But yeah, now I finished it, but the fic is far from over. Way far.<strong>

**By the way, I realize that I've been spelling Terrence's name both ways (Terence and Terrence). Well, the official spelling is Terrence, but I couldn't change it here because I had a whole chapter entitled Terence, so I had to stick with that. Then I left this fic for a while and forgot how I spelled it, so now I'm inconsistent. I'm not entirely sure if I'll bring him back though. As much as I want to shed some spotlight on his relationship with Tink, I can't. Seriously, I fail at boy-next-door fluff.**

**Explanations aside, I'll try to work on the next chapter as soon as I can. Again, I'm sorry to those who kept waiting for this. I still have all (well, most of it, I guess) the plot bunnies for this fic, so I can probably finish it. The only problem is putting it into words.**

**R&R, lovelies!**

**~ froggy**


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